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

Category: Military issues

  • Washington Times: SF wary of DADT repeal

    The Washington Times has an article this morning which declares “Special forces wary of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal” in which they interview several military members about their reaction to the repeal of the DADT policy. This statement is probably the prevalent view;

    “If an open gay does his job, I think he’ll be accepted,” said retired Rear Adm. George R. Worthington, a former Navy SEAL. At retirement in 1992, Adm. Worthington commanded the Naval Special Warfare Command, the unit that mints new SEALs in a demanding qualification process.

    “I don’t think there is going to be that many of them that want to sign up for SEALs anyway because of the closeness and the tightness of the training,” Adm. Worthington said.

    “My opinion is that they’re probably more clerical oriented. Medical profession. Corpsmen. Stuff like that.”

    Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff the gay community is looking for – something that makes them seem different from straight folks, which is true, but they don’t want anyone saying it outloud.

    One Special Operations soldier echoed my concerns;

    The first Green Beret commando said the military does not even know how many gays are in the active force, making it difficult to target education programs. “So is it worth the strains, is it worth the cost, especially at a period in time when combat soldiers are indeed stressed and the economy is in bad shape?” the officer said.

    “My rhetorical question is, ‘Why couldn’t we have waited until a period of relative peace to implement these changes? That’s what we did with racial integration; that’s what we did to go to an all-volunteer force.”

    The only reason DADT became such a huge issue this year was because of the political climate, it had nothing to do with readiness or national security, no matter how much Vote Vets said otherwise.

    The Times included TSO’s and Blackfive’s favorite quote from the Defense Department’s survey;

    “Anecdotally, we heard much the same. As one special-operations force warfighter told us, ‘We have a gay guy [in the unit]. He’s big, he’s mean, and he kills lots of bad guys. No one cared that he was gay.’ “

    I agree that if gays who join the military confine themselves to their mission, they’ll probably do fine, but if they step outside those confines and try to become culture warriors, like Dan Choi or Autumn Sandeen, they won’t be accepted and this will end as a costly experiment.

  • Rumor Doctor’s top ten diagnosis of 2010

    Our newest fan, Jeff Schogol, known as the Rumor Doctor at Stars & Stripes sends us a link to his top ten rumor busters of 2010. It includes “Is Taylor Swift a Chinese spy”, the rumor that Air Force recruits get inoculations with square needles, and the real origin of that red “blood” stripe Marines wear on their trousers.

  • Code Pink and DADT.

    As expected Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin put this out since it was repealed. No really surprised.

    The peace group I co-founded, CODEPINK, has not only been protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the drone attacks in Pakistan, but we have been going to military recruiting stations, high schools and career fairs throughout the country encouraging our youth not to join the military.

    Ok here is the warning. Put down any drinks and keep them there for the entire post. Yes it will be that bad.

    Final warning,

    Ok here we go, considering Code Pinks actions in the past years before reading the next quote.

    We know that the military is one of the only ways many young people can afford a college education these days and that the financial crisis severely limits this generation’s career options. But we still encourage young men and women to look for other opportunities that don’t involved killing or being killed in wars we shouldn’t be fighting.

    It might seem contradictory, then, that CODEPINK was an enthusiastic supporter of the rights for gays and lesbians to join and serve openly in the military. But within our organization, it was never even controversial — we stand up for the rights of all human beings. The decision to join the military or not should be determined by individual choice, not institutional discrimination.

    WTF? Really? So what was all of that going on in Berkley? Yea here is what they really think of individual choice.

    But then it gets better.

    We understand that allowing gay soldiers to openly serve in the military is a crack in the armor of bigotry that will eventually open the way for gay people to marry and be guaranteed equality in the workplace. We understand this victory in the larger context of the march toward full human rights for this oppressed community. And who knows? Perhaps this victory will also serve to strengthen the military’s respect for human rights abroad.

    Yea because we never had any of that before DADT was repealed.

    But is comes down to the real reason Code Pink supported the repeal of DADT.

    We also understand the potential for a powerful alliance between the gay and anti-war communities. We can work together to help young people — gay and straight — find careers that won’t kill them, maim them, destroy them psychologically, or cause them to do harm to others.

    We can jointly reach out to those already in the military to speak out against the violations of the rights of peoples whose land we occupy. We can ask gay veterans to join groups like Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War. And we can work together to turn our military from an aggressive force to one that truly defends us here at home.

    So they want them to join so they can have a fresh batch of Soldiers to use and throw away, since the current supply is running low.

    Oh in case your wondering she will be at Fort Benning next year to take part of the SOA protests.

    It it now safe to resume or start drinking.

  • Reid-Choi engagement announced or something

    Melony sends us this video of Harry Reid and Dan Choi exchanging Choi’s West Point ring. Melony guesses that they’re officially engaged (linked from The Blaze);

    Now we know why Reid rammed the DADT repeal through the Senate.

    Notice that in the portion of the video following the Reid/Choi love fest, that’s Autumn Sandeen the “transgender” veteran, standing next to Choi. So, I guess that’s one of the extremes we can expect from the repeal of DADT.

  • IVAW in your hometown

    Yesterday, a young soldier home on leave to his hometown for the holiday season found this article in his local newspaper;

    Iraq War veterans Aaron Hughes of Chicago, Scott Kimble of Champaign, and Brock McIntosh of Normal spoke about Operation Recovery, which opposes sending troops with PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Military Sexual Trauma back into battle. Operation Recovery insists that traumatized veterans have the right to heal.

    “I think it’s morally abhorrent to send mentally traumatized soldiers back to battle where they use heavy weapons and armor,” McIntosh said. “Many of these soldiers are on psychotropic drugs and are a danger to themselves, to fellow soldiers and everyone else.”

    Twenty percent of troops deployed repeatedly have PTSD, Hughes said. Suicide rates among active-duty troops are twice as high as that of the civilian population, and veterans with PTSD are six times more likely to attempt suicide, according to the IVAW.

    Hughes said that Military Sexual Trauma is a major problem for female soldiers, one third of them suffering sexual assault. Ninety percent of women soldiers seeking help from the Veterans Administration report sexual assault from fellow soldiers, he said.

    “Women have to go to their commander to prove their case first,” Hughes explained, and often their complaints are dismissed. “Women are expected to return and serve with the same soldiers who assaulted them,” he said. The actual number of cases of MST is difficult to verify, as many sexual assaults go unreported. According to a 2004 study cited by the Service Women’s Action Network, 71 percent of women veterans seeking help from the VA had been sexually assaulted.

    The young trooper, after writing to Blackfive (who forwarded the email to us) fired off this letter to the author of the article;
    (more…)

  • Teachers do the job that terrorists can’t

    There’s an article from Associated Press that reports a study done on Army entrance exams show that 23% of the people who take those exams score so low that they don’t qualify for any branch of the military.

    “Too many of our high school students are not graduating ready to begin college or a career – and many are not eligible to serve in our armed forces,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. “I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America’s underperforming education system.”

    Many of you have seen it first hand when you left the military – remedial reading, writing and math classes in colleges for freshmen who can’t string more than three or four words together coherently. High schools don’t prepare students for more than fashion shows and putting a condom on a banana. Teachers who can’t perform are destroying our national security. al Qaeda can take some time off and watch our wonderful education system do their job for them.

    Kenneth Jackson, 19, of Miami, enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school. He said passing the entrance exam is easy for those who paid attention in school, but blamed the education system for why more recruits aren’t able to pass the test.

    Putting to rest the lie that the military is the last refuge of the poor and minorities;

    The Education Trust study shows wide disparities in scores among white and minority students. Nearly 40 percent of black students and 30 percent of Hispanics don’t pass, compared to 16 percent of whites.

    So now, when I meet someone who has never been in the military, I’ll just take for granted that they’re drooling morons who couldn’t pass the tests that we all aced.

  • S&S: Is Ranger School obsolete?

    Stars and Stripes makes the claim that Ranger School is unnecessary now because so many NCOs have combat experience which negates the purpose of Ranger School which simulates so well the conditions of intense dismounted operations.

    After a decade of extended war deployments and with little time back home for training, there is now a “critical” shortage of Rangers needed to fill hundreds of crucial combat leadership positions intended for them across the Army, school officials say.

    The dearth is particularly noticeable among noncommissioned officers — the sergeants, staff sergeants and sergeants first class who lead small units of enlisted soldiers through combat — and among all ranks of combat maneuver operators — the infantry, armor, field artillery and cavalry units fighting at the front lines.

    That’s an extremely short-sighted view of the force. Ranger School, more than anything else gives an experienced cadre of instructors and graders to disseminate the lessons they learned in combat, which probably differs from that of the students. Originally, that was the goal of the Ranger Battalions before they became the special service force they are today.

    I’m pretty sure that all of the NCOES has been fairly disrupted by the last decade or so of budget cuts and war. The Ranger School is more than a “tab check” among the elites, it’s a baseline of training for military leaders. Even though it can said that combat leaders have performed admirably in this war, much of what they’ve learned is applicable solely to this conflict and not as useful looking forward to other threats we face.

    The skills taught at Ranger School are under the harshest of conditions and under stresses that probably can’t be duplicated in the Middle East. I’m not saying the school is more difficult than leading soldiers who are being shot at, I’m saying it’s a different difficulty.

    Our greatest defeats have come when the US was improperly prepared for the enemy they eventually faced. Task Force Smith and Kasserine Pass to name two. And what Canadian doesn’t know about the sacrifice at Dieppe. To dismiss the importance of Ranger School in perpetuating the professional force through the 80s and 90s endangers the future force.

  • Give him an inch….

    Our favorite moron in the DADT discussion, Dan Choi, wote in the Huffington Post on Saturday;

    I intend to rejoin the military and serve in any capacity I can be of best use. I intend to marry and have a family of my own. We are living in a truly historic moment where we can enjoy the rewards of our efforts. We stand on the shoulders of many who have come before us, from Air Force Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich to our present day heroes. We owe it to them to continue fighting. Our loudness does not distract but enhances the fight. Our direct action puts wind in the sails of lobbyists and political elites who do our bidding on the inside. We are one team with one goal: Equality in our lifetime. I do not intend to waver or retreat in pursuit of this new life purpose and mission, and neither should any American who loves justice.

    Yeah, we don’t want you, Dan. Not because of what you put in who, but because you have no idea what military service is. You can’t behave like an officer – no officer I ever followed was ever chained to the White House fence. No officer I know was ever tempted to make demands of the President;

    President Obama, you are not off the hook. The compromise bill passed today puts the moral imperative squarely on your desk. Sign an executive order instituting a full non-discrimination policy throughout the military. If you do not, if you drag your feet and politicize this with your theoretical calculations as you have these past two years, you will be guilty of abetting those who loudly proclaim homophobia from their platforms and pulpits. Provide them no shelter or safe haven. Institute justice now.

    There’s no place for your antics in the military. You’re in the place you need to be now…among the civilian social justice warriors who bark at the moon making impossible demands like erasing some imagined bigotry. Dan Choi, if you think you were mistreated before wait until you meet your next platoon sergeant. And it will have nothing to do with your sexual orientation and everything to do with the fact that you have no leadership traits. It will have everything to do with the importance that you place on what’s in your pants rather than what’s in your head.