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

Category: Military issues

  • bin Laden still dead and feeding the fish

    Sporkmaster sends us this CNN video of Dan Choi in his dress blues at Ground Zero this morning it begins at about 7:40 if you don’t want to sit through all of the CNN blather;

    Of course, he makes it more about himself than about the moment.

    In loosely related news, Jeff Schogol of Stars and Stripes wants us to know that they’ve aggregated all of their bin Laden links on one page for your research convenience.

    Then there’s the news of the guy who accidentally tweeted the raid on bin Laden’s compound.

    Michelle Malkin points out who’s really politicizing the death of bin Laden.

    The Jawa Report’s Rusty Shackelford writes about NY’s Islamists who congratulate bin Laden on the event of his martyrdom.

    Barney Franks, on Think Progress says that bin Laden’s death “strengthens the case” for cutting and running from Afghanistan.

    Hamas is upset while the Abbas government welcomes the news.

    Islamic clerics question the burial at sea. Tough…we pwned bin Laden and we could do what we wanted with his rotting corpse.

  • Atheist chaplains?

    I don’t usually discuss religion here, mainly because I don’t understand much about it, and my own relationship with my Creator is unnecessarily complex so who am I to question other people’s beliefs? But NotSoOldMarine sent us this link to the NY Times about atheists wanting a chaplain in the military;

    Strange as it sounds, groups representing atheists and secular humanists are pushing for the appointment of one of their own to the chaplaincy, hoping to give voice to what they say is a large — and largely underground — population of nonbelievers in the military.

    “Humanism fills the same role for atheists that Christianity does for Christians and Judaism does for Jews,” Mr. Torpy said in an interview. “It answers questions of ultimate concern; it directs our values.”

    “You’re not a faith group; you’re a lack-of-faith group,” First Lt. Samantha Nicoll, an active atheist at Fort Bragg, recalled a chaplain friend’s saying about the idea.

    I don’t know how an actual atheist chaplain would be trained by his or her group in order to prove credentials to minister to soldiers, since the military is non-denominational and an atheist chaplain would be required to minister to soldiers of all faiths regardless of his own beliefs, or the lack thereof, in this case.

    It’s a case of “me too-ism” and a cry for attention. I’m sure that real atheists are embarrassed by this publicity grab by their own kind. Since atheism is based on being excluded from groups of faith, this attempt to group them into a faith of sorts should upset them greatly.

    A brilliant piece by my buddy, McQ at Blackfive on the subject.

  • More Marines will qualify for TBI-related Purple Heart Medals

    Jeff sends us a link to the Stars and Stripes article announcing that the Marines have changed their policy on awarding Purple Heart Medals related to traumatic brain injuries;

    Under a new fleetwide instruction, Marines who retain consciousness after a concussion may receive the medal if diagnosed by a medical officer as not fit for full duty “due to persistent signs, symptoms, or findings of functional impairment for a period greater than 48 hours from the time of the concussive incident.”

    22,00 Marines have been classified as “mild” TBI victims and only 9,000 have been awarded the Purple Heart.

    A medal doesn’t cure TBI, of course, but at least those who are suffering will be recognized for their sacrifice – and that’s part of the healing process, right?

  • Army Patrols Columbus Georgia

    Nah, it’s not the imposition of martial law… it’s something else?

    Military patrols start Friday night in downtown Columbus

    Starting at 10 o’clock Friday, two senior non-commissioned officers from Fort Benning will be on courtesy patrol. The soldiers will be wearing arm bands that read, “Courtesy Patrol.”

    Okay whatever happened to the MPs? Or in my case the Shore Patrol?

    Does Fort Benning not have an MP contingent working with local law enforcement?

    I’m sorry, the concept of a Courtesy Patrol seems strange to me. Or maybe silly? Doesn’t it evoke odd images for anyone else? If I saw the Shore Patrol striding purposefully in my direction I’d be concerned… The Courtesy Patrol, not so much.

    [Edit to add] A coupla comments have pointed out the Courtesy Patrol is a good thing. Reckon my inner geezer is showing some, but I STILL think it sounds odd.

  • Incentive!

    Akin to something out of Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” some branches of our military are providing a path to citizenship for those who serve.

    Army, Navy add citizenship option to boot camp

    FORT JACKSON, S.C. – Military service has long been one route to U.S. citizenship. Now the Army and Navy, in need of specialists and language skills in wartime, are speeding things up by allowing recruits to wrap up the process while they’re still in basic training.

    It means a change in a no-visitors policy during boot camp, to allow federal immigration officers access to the recruits. But military officials say it’s a well-deserved break for volunteers who otherwise would have to slog through the bureaucratic ordeal during deployments around the world, often far from U.S. embassies.

    The military route is not a short-cut for foreigners abroad to get into the U.S. Only legal immigrants can apply, officials stress, and they must complete five years of honorable service or chance having their citizenship revoked.

    I think I have mixed feelings about this policy myself, but it seems a fine idea on the face of it. There’s a hint of PC multiculturalism in there as well that troubles me some.

    There’s a long and storied history of immigrants serving with distinction and honor, and our military has long used incentives to retain or recruit folks in certain specialties… but is THIS policy a step too far?

  • Marines wrestle with women in combat discussion

    Of course, the Marines, like the other combat arms service, the Army, are preparing for the inevitable integration of women into the combat role. It’s inevitable like the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. All of the numbnut civilians are convinced it’s a good idea, no matter what evidence to the contrary is presented. Somehow, national security and actual war-fighting take a back seat to the politically-correct solution to career advancement. From the Marine Corps Times;

    That panel, the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, said in a March 15 report that the Defense Department should open all military occupational specialties to both sexes. Not doing so stunts career opportunities, according to the commission, which comprised active-duty and retired general officers, and senior enlisted personnel.

    “I honestly believe that if you put me in the situation, I will adapt and overcome,” said [Sgt. Michelle Stephens], who works at Headquarters and Service Battalion of Quantico, Va. “I think anyone with the proper mentality in the Marine Corps can do that. If you put 100 women in a room, you’ll probably find five who are perfect to be a grunt.”

    The question, of course, is what do we do with the other 95? It’s been my experience that most pogues love to “play infantry” for few days, but quickly tire of it if the experience lasts much longer. I think the novelty of being a woman in the infantry will have the same effect.

    Like the cow who was the first woman cadet at the Citadel, Shannon Faulkner, who spent zero time preparing for her time among male cadets and actually gained weight before she was admitted because she expected to be hand-carried through training by virtue of her political status.

    Women who haven’t served in [Female Engagement Teams] may not understand how substantial the differences are between serving alongside the infantry and being a part of it, said Sgt. Karina Villatoro, who deployed with an FET in support of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion in late 2009 and early 2010. The unit included Marines and operators from other branches of service and worked primarily in Afghanistan’s Herat province.

    “It’s a totally different thing to augment them than to be one,” said Villatoro, who faced mortar fire and firefights during her deployment. “For the women who want to try it, I think they should adhere to the male physical standards and from there, see how they do.”

    Sergeant Villatoro hits the nail on the head – there is only ONE standard in combat – coming out the end of the experience in the same number of pieces that you entered. If women are going to be allowed to serve in combat arms, there can be no alternate standard for their training. Let the politicians justify otherwise.

  • MFSO’s ED Oskar Castro, racist tool

    TSO sent us these links to Military Families Speak Out’s new executive director, Oskar Castro. To demonstrate that he has a keen grasp of military strategy, he tells the braindead how counterinsurgencies are fought;

    They send in the elite troops — they send in the Navy Seals, the Marine Corps, the Green Berets, the Army Rangers. They send in these folk, who are overwhelmingly white men, not even women of course. They go in and they make the early mess.

    But who comes back to the front line to maintain what these folks have done, or to continue moving, and it’s overwhelmingly people of color, poor people, African American, poor white. Latinos are overwhelmingly represented in combat positions, even though they’re under-represented in the military. So almost 18 percent of them who are in the military are in combat positions. And there’s a lot to say about that culturally and economically; you get more pay if you’re in those more dangerous roles.

    So i guess there are no white men who aren’t in SpecOps, huh? And apparently SpecOps weeds out the brown people. And how exactly do they “make the early mess”?

    Castro goes on to explain why shouldn’t allow yourself to be recruited by the evil military recruiters;

    Between The Lines: You said 65 percent of those who sign up don’t get the benefits they thought they were entitled to, like $50,000 for college, because they don’t fulfill all the requirements necessary, and military recruiters never tell them about those things. But is it spelled out in the contract, and it’s just that recruiters verbally are less than honest?

    Oskar Castro: It’s in the small print. It’s part of military regulations that enable that. And in order to get even the full $50,000, they say “up to $50,000,” some recruiters say, “You’re going to get $50,000, I guarantee it.” They won’t put it in writing. But they’re not told that in order to do that they also have to qualify for the Army Navy College Fund and very few people will qualify for the Army Navy College Fund and have the right test scores in order to get the full $50,000, and leave the military under honorable conditions, and serve the full four years. So, yeah, it’s in the fine print; military recruiters don’t usually read the fine print. You’d be challenged even to get a military enlistment contract for your parents to read. Why would you want your parents to read that? Just sign, you know.

    Between The Lines: And what percentage don’t get honorable discharges and what percent don’t serve their full hitch? You said both these things prevent enlistees from getting their benefits.

    Oskar Castro: It’s about 20-25 percent, I believe, who get discharged under less than honorable conditions. And therefore, even though they’ve put $1,200 of their hard-earned money into the GI package deal, they don’t get that back, they don’t get anything they might have accumulated in terms of the matching of the funds, so if you’re booted out of the military under a bad conduct discharge, other than honorable, even a general discharge, you don’t get the money for college. You have to get an honorable discharge. Otherwise, you don’t get anything at all.

    Yes, you read that right. Oskar says that 20-25% of enlistees don’t finish their commitment to the military with honorable discharges. And 65% of total recruits don’t qualify for education benefits after they’ve fulfilled their enlistment commitments. Who is the lying sack of shit now? Is that how you combat what you claim is massive disinformation – by pulling bogus statistics out of your ass?

  • The bi-polar Left

    When they were all draft-age, the left opposed the draft, naturally. But now, like some of our resident trolls, the draft seems to be the answer of all of our problems – like beer. From the same folks who brought yesterday’s discussion of sexual assault in the military, Miller-McCune brings us the myopic view that we should restore and reconstitute the draft to prevent war;

    West Point’s Lance Betros adds: “The military is losing contact with the wider society. And those who make the decisions about military force really don’t have any skin in the fight. We’ve reached the point where you have to wonder how well policy makers understand the consequences of their actions when it comes to national deterrence.”

    When the Gates Commission signed off on its report, the 91st Congress had nearly 400 veterans, from World War II and Korea. The just completed 111th Congress had far fewer, 121. Only seven members of the 110th Congress had family serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

    The fear is not that the military would attempt to usurp the government. “The real danger,” Betros says, “is that Americans reflexively move towards a military solution before they will try all the other elements of national power. For now, the country relies very, very heavily on its military, without asking if there is an alternative. When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

    Is there any half-wit bozo who thinks that the commitment of military forces to Afghanistan or Iraq in the war against terror would have been avoided if there was a draft? Seriously. There was only one solution when thousands of innocent Americans were murdered ten years ago.

    If the author of the above thinks that there was an alternative response, I wish he’d remove his skull from deep inside his anus and tell us. He called the Vietnam-era military a “conscript Army” but 648,500 men were draftees of the 2.6 million who served in Vietnam – that’s less than 25%. And having a draft didn’t keep us out of Vietnam.

    These anti-war nimnils are just rying to figure out why there is such resistance to their movements and they think if they can get selective service ramped up again, they can be popular again.

    Thanks to Finrod.