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

Category: Military issues

  • Petraeus allows MWR concessions back

    You probably remember COB’s post about General McCrystal’s order for the fast food and PX concessionaires to remove their facilities from Afghanistan. Well, there’s a new commander in town and he has a somewhat different view of the situation;

    “These quality-of-life programs remain important to soldiers for stress relief and therefore enhancing military readiness,” Gen. David Petraeus wrote in an Oct. 4 order.

    The ultimate goal of restoring these concessions to Afghanistan, he wrote, is “boosting residents’ morale on U.S. bases.”

    So pogues and fobbits everywhere, rejoice. There’s something to do besides your job. Of course, for you trigger-pullers out there, nothing has changed. Unless they assign a pogue to bring you an ice cream cone in your fighting position.

    Petraeus continues;

    In his new order, Petraeus noted that AAFES concessions must be “right-sized and tailored for an expeditionary force in order to ensure that they do not become distractions to the mission.”

    Oh, how could that happen? There’s so much to do inside the Baskin Robbins to further the war effort. Yes, I very much hate pogues. And I have my reasons.

  • Nisei to receive Congressional Gold Medal of Honor

    I remember watching the movie “Go For Broke” on the television everytime it came on – it was a Hollywood recreation of a unit of the 442nd Infantry Regiment and the 100th Infantry Battalion – the famed first generation Americans of Japanese decent who were allowed by the US government to fight in Europe during the Second World War.

    Congress has decided to award the unit the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the highest civilian award.

    …6,000 Japanese-Americans born of immigrant parents who fought in Europe and Asia, even as the U.S. government forced their families to live in internment camps, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. According to the Navy Times, the soldiers were part of the Military Intelligence Service and the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion, which eventually became the most highly decorated unit in the history of the U.S. military.

    I’ve always been proud of these Americans for their combat history, whether they were from Japanese extraction, or not. I know we’re presenting them with this honor for some stupid multicultural point, but they deserve it no matter the color of their skin – they fought for the United States and helped win the war. Period. All of that crap about interment camps has nothing to do with their brave performance in the face of this country’s enemies.

    Thanks to Tman for the link.

  • Have the French gone super-ghey?

    I was reading about the Travel Alert that the State Department issued and I came across the above photo – the only thing I could think of is “what the hell is up with those berets”? The French soldiers look like they’re wearing a pizza pan balanced on their heads.

    Look at the French soldiers patrolling an airport at about :40 into this video;

    For crying out loud, don’t let Shinseki see this shit.

  • The last draftee

    Susan sends us a link about Chief Warrant Officer Clyde Greene who may be the last draftee who went to Vietnam to leave the service almost forty years later;

    “I didn’t want to join the Army,” Clyde Green said last week. “The Army came and got me.”

    When he retires as a chief warrant officer in a ceremony Thursday morning at Ft. McPherson — after 39 years, 9 months and 15 days of continuous active duty – he will be, by the best accounting, the last U.S. Army draftee who fought in Vietnam.

    Chief Greene, from Orangeburg, SC, is probably the best living proofthat the Army is an acquired taste;

    “It was cold and really tough at first,” he said. “But then I kind of got where I enjoyed it, once I figured out who was in charge.”

    The discipline of military life he had feared became a comfort.

    “I liked the order,” he said.

  • Family of MOH Recipient Turned Away from White House

    Earlier Jonn had a post about the Bush’s touch of class with the Gold Star Mothers. This after Operator Dan gave us his tempered and subtle opinion of the CinC.

    Imagine my surprise when I came across this little gem

    SPOKANE, Wash. — Family of Medal of Honor recipient Vernon Baker was denied access to the White House’s West Wing on Saturday, a day after the World War II hero was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

    Why you might ask? Well for all the right reasons of course….

    Baker’s widow, Heidy, and grandson, Vernon Pawlik, 10, were denied entry because the boy was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. His shirt had a picture of his grandfather on it.

    Yup, violation of the dress code.

    Could this get any better? You betcha…

    Vernon Baker, of St. Maries, Idaho, was the last living black World War II Medal of Honor winner.

    The first black President couldn’t honor the last black MOH winner of WWII.

    I realize that Obama didn’t personally turn them away but what kind of culture exists at the White House that the staff didn’t feel they could make an exception for the Grandson of the last black MOH recipient of WWII after he just watched the Old Guard bury his Grandfather with all the dignity he no doubt earned…..Vernon Bakers MOH citation.

    Thank you Operator Dan, for a well timed rant, you saved me alot more typing…

    UPDATE: I almost forgot HM2 FMF-SW ret had his obit up back in July

  • More MOVE Act violations head for court

    The Military and Overseas Voter Enforcement Act of 2009 is still causing trouble for some states and counties who can’t get out of the habit of screwing military members out of their votes according to the Military Voter Protection (MVP) Project. MVP has filed a lawsuit against Maryland for mailing out an incomplete ballot to at least one officer. Oddly enough, the ballot included only candidates for Federal office and none of the contentious elections for State office. (Fox News link)

    [Eric] Eversole says the DOJ’s lack of oversight in enforcing the MOVE Act could lead to the disenfranchisement of military voters.

    “DOJ decided Maryland could send out to only half a ballot, and the ballots they sent out did not satisfy the requirements,” he said. “It all comes back to this: From our perspective, they deserve to have that ballot sent to them and sent to them in a timely manner. We don’t think it should be half a ballot. You don’t meet your requirements for sending out half a ballot.”

    MVP sent a letter to the US Attorney General Eric Holder;

    On Monday, MVP Project sent a list of possible MOVE Act violations to Attorney General Eric Holder, claiming the act may have been violated in Connecticut, New Mexico, seven counties in Alabama, two counties in Arkansas, one county in California, one county in Indiana and two counties in Nevada.

    You can see the details of the violations listed in this letter at this .pdf.

    I’m surprised not at all, especially at Maryland’s behavior. Ass-munch, thief, liar, puppy-murderer, molester of kittens, sniffer of used diapers, Marty O’Malley is in the race for his political life and he’s sure to hamstring the opposition anyway he can.

    I have to ask; where the Hell is VoteVets? It’s right there in their name that they ought to be involved in this. OK, they’re not a VSO…but what else should this organization be involved in instead of some bullshit “Clean Energy” campaign for MoveOn.

  • Westboro case makes it to the Supreme Court

    Al Snyder, the father of Matthew Snyder, a fallen soldier, will square off in the Supreme Court next Wednesday with Fred Phelps’ demented flock to have his $5 million settlement against the Westboro “Baptist” Church reinstated. (Stars & Stripes/AP link)

    Margie Phelps, a daughter of the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and the lawyer representing her family members at the Supreme Court, said that if the justices reinstate the $5 million judgment to Snyder, anyone who says anything upsetting to a mourner “is subject to a crushing penalty.”

    But Snyder said in an interview with The Associated Press that if he had the chance, he would tell the justices “that this isn’t a case of free speech. It’s case of harassment.”

    This Ain’t Hell’s legal correspondent has secured a seat at the oral arguments on Thursday.

  • That whole Prudential dust-up

    Sporkmaster wrote about the supposed “scam” that Prudential got caught up in while they were trying to pay out death benefits to widows of troops killed in the war against terror. I had a feeling that Prudential was just trying to do the best they could given the restrictions. They sent out a letter to several organizations that deal with soldiers this week.

    First i want to say that I don’t like Prudential even a little bit. I spent some time selling insurance products in the 90s and they were my largest competitor in the area where I worked. They didn’t do anything illegal, but they’d walk right up to the line to make a sale.

    Anyway, they took exception with all of the people who said they were cheating widows out of the death benefits from SGLI. One of whom was dicksmith who is always trying to pin something on Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney regardless if there’s any real evidence or if they even understand the issue. So dicksmith went off half-cocked;

    The scam works like this: instead of sending the family the money, the banks used to distribute the funds (in the case of SGLI, Prudential and Metlife) send the family a “checkbook” and a notice that for the convenience of the family the money has been placed in an interest bearing account from which the “checkbook” will draw funds.

    Only the “interest bearing account” is not an FDIC insured checking account, as was recently discovered by Cindy Lohman after her son was killed in Afghanistan:

    dicksmiths and VoteVets candidate Patrick Murphy jumped on the populist theme to condemn Prudential while dicksmith furiously scribbled a petition so VoteVets could fart into the wind and look like they care about veterans without actually doing anything meaningful.

    Pru writes;

    Prudential said some media reports that have noted Alliance Accounts are not federally insured have failed to mention that the accounts are backed by Prudential, and by state guaranty funds.

    Yeah, insurance is one of the things that the Federal government still allow States to regulate…for now. That’s why the accounts aren’t insured by FDIC, some investments are insured by SIPC but generally insurance products are protected by States.

    General Accounts like the Alliance Account are required to have cash on hand every day to pay every single account. But because of the restrictions on the company, expenses are fairly high in the account.

    Pru says they informed all of the beneficiaries of this stuff when they sent the checkbooks. I don’t doubt that at all – I remember all of the disclosure documents I had to hand to my clients and the mandatory explanations about every product I sold. Like I said, Pru may have walked up to the line but I’m sure they didn’t cross that line and do anything illegal.