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

Category: Military issues

  • That vote to lift gay ban

    Harry Reid’s gambit to foist gays on the military failed miserably today. This is how Associated Press tells the tale;

    Yeah, Republicans did it all by themselves. Democrats have a majority in the Senate, but it was Republicans who sunk the bill. Well, unless you scroll waaayyy down the page to the 18th paragraph;

    Democrats also failed to keep all of their party members in line. Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of Arkansas, voted with Republicans to scuttle the bill. The vote was 56-43, four short of the 60 required to advance under Senate rules.

    All that matters is the headline anyway, right? That’s as far as those dillweeds at Democratic Underground read, anyway. You can read about the politics of Reid’s motivations at Blackfive.

    I want to get something straight;

    Someone wrote earlier today in the comments that this blog supports the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That’s false, you must be thinking of another blog.

    This blog stands firmly on the fact that we’re in a war and everything else is bullshit. Discussing who can put what in who is for another time when there aren’t any enemies at the door. These votes on abortion, gays in the military and whatever else bullshit is larded up in the defense bill are distractions from business of killing jihadis.

    If the Democrats had been committed to the military as they are to every bullshit namby-pamby, deviant group that might vote for them, this war would have been over years ago.

    I might have been persuaded to think about gays in the military, but the antics of active duty and reservists of that persuasion have steered me away from anything that might have ever been considered support. LT Choi is no different than Bobby Whittenberg.

  • Fort Bliss shooting (Updated)

    About 3 PM local time yesterday a gunman apparently shot two employees at the AAFES convenience store on Fort Bliss, TX. Some news reports are reporting that two people including the gunman are dead;

    The Fort Bliss commander says two people are dead after a shooting at a small grocery store on the West Texas Army post.

    Col. Joseph A. Simonelli Jr. declined to discuss details or identify the victims of the Monday afternoon incident.

    Simonelli said the area was roped off for an FBI investigation, but the sprawling facility next to El Paso was never under lockdown.

    Others report that only the gunman was killed.

    I didn’t write anything yesterday about this because details were so sparse. That hasn’t changed today. When, in your memory, has the media had not even the shooter’s name let alone the victims at this point? In fact, it is hard to find any reports online – most are just reprints of the AP story. So I wonder what’s really going on here.

    UPDATE: Someone sent us a link to the Fort Bliss Facebook page which has the FBI press release;

    The shooter, has been identified as 63 year old Steven Kropf a retired Army Sergeant, of El Paso, Texas., shot two female civilian employees at the Shopette Convenience Store located at 1333 Casssidy Road. 44 year old Bettina Maria Goins of El Paso, Texas was pronounced dead and the other victim remains hospit…alized with serious injuries, her identity will not be released due to privacy concerns.

    It is not known whether the shooter had any relationship with either victim. The motive for the shooting is still under investigation. This was an isolated criminal incident and not terrorism related. The FBI has primary jurisdiction when a civilian crime occurs on a federal reservation. The FBI will con…tinue to work the investigation with Ft. Bliss Criminal Investigation Division and Military Police.

  • Military issues; everything except war

    Last year, we waited more than a hundred days while the President made up his mind whether or not he wanted to win in Afghanistan and provide General McCrystal with the troops he said he needed to win in Afghanistan, Finally, the President decided to give the General half of what he requested as a compromise with his political base – as if victory against terrorism could be possible with a compromise.

    General McChrystal is gone now because he happen to complain to a reporter about the support he wasn’t getting. Now, a year later, we’re debating whether we can win in Afghanistan after General McChrystal had already predicted we wouldn’t without giving the support he needed.

    Earlier last year the President tried to jam down the throats of service-connected disabled veterans a plan to force those veterans to buy insurance to cover their treatment so the President could afford to provide free healthcare for families making more than $80,000/year who hadn’t served in the military. If not for the Veteran Service Organizations, we’d be paying our premiums right now.

    Now, we look at the “Defense” Bill which seems to have everything in it except defense.

    What should have been a routine budget bill for the Pentagon is now a political cauldron brimming with proposed policy changes over abortion, gay rights and illegal immigration. Senate Democrats have folded, or attempted to fold, all those issues into a single defense package, leading to accusations that the Senate is needlessly politicizing its annual obligation to fund the military.

    As the parties hurl political hand grenades at one another, stuck in the crossfire is the military itself.

    Even pop culture figure, Lady Gaga, who until recently I thought was a transvestite, has entered the debate by pleading with college students in Maine to harass their Congress members to repeal the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy which allows gays to serve in the military. Really? Maine? If she was interested in having an impact on the discussion, she should have gone to Alabama or Mississippi. No courage in going to Maine.

    So i guess these issues that aren’t really related to the defense budget are being added so Democrats can bitch that Republicans don’t support the troops during the election when they vote against the larded bill. But it hardly compares to the votes in Congress over the last ten years in which Democrats really did vote against defense bills in an effort to actually defund the military. Like the four times between 2006 and 2008 the Democrats actually voted specifically to cut off funding for deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    So this is what Democrats think of the troops – they are a political football to kick back and forth to achieve their political agenda. Their pitched battles can be compromised. The victories on the battlefield take a backseat to victories at the polls.

    See, I learned this decades ago when I was sitting in the Saudi desert waiting for Congress to decide whether I can fight or not…while they used me and my troops to blackmail President GHW Bush into signing a tax hike bill that would defeat him several months later. And, oh, I also figured out that Congress hoped we would lose and die by the thousands so they could use that as ammunition in the election, too.

  • Arlington Incompetence

    Most people have read or heard about Heath Warner who was exhumed by his parents at Arlington to verify his identification. His father was able to confirm that Heath’s remains were in the proper grave by his tattoo. A less-often told story happened a few weeks back at Arlington.

    After a report issued in June found that the problems could potentially affect thousands of graves, defense officials received about 1,100 calls from worried families.

    One of those calls, from the widow of an Army staff sergeant, led to the exhumation of her husband’s casket late last month. The remains in it belonged to someone else, so officials opened a nearby grave and found the woman’s husband, said Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman.

    “The families are satisfied that the problem was fixed,” Tallman said Wednesday.

    Total incompetence. There’s no other way to describe the incident. I doubt the families are all that satisfied. It’s not like the two soldiers were interred at the same time or anything. They’re not like bricks stacked upon the ground and someone just tosses it in a nearby grave. There’s a record of the chain of custody – everyone in that chain at Arlington needs to be roasted over a slow fire in public.

    The Washington Post writes;

    Tallman declined to explain how the mix-up occurred. In the four months since the report was released, the Army has also declined to make Army Secretary John McHugh or Kathryn Condon, who was appointed to fix the problems at Arlington, available for an interview.

    Horse. Shit. They’re not part of some imperial court – they’re public servants. If they’re not willing to answer questions, they need to be fired. Period. A journalist with a pair of ‘nads would demand the chain of custody record and publish the names so we can alert the Pitchfork Mob.

  • National POW/MIA Recognition Day

    Zedechek wrote to tell us that we’re remiss in not mentioning National POW/MIA Recognition Day today. We’re certainly sorry. Here are some links of events across the country;

    In Idaho

    Massachusetts

    Walla Walla

    From Texas;

    Lake County, CA

    West Palm Beach, FL

    From this year’s Presidential Proclamation

    On September 17, 2010, the stark black and white flag honoring America’s prisoners of war and those missing in action will be flown over the White House; the United States Capitol; the Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs; the Selective Service System Headquarters; the World War II Memorial; the Korean War Veterans Memorial; the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; United States post offices; national cemeteries; and other locations across our country. It is a powerful reminder that our Nation will never cease in our task to recover, remember, and honor the courageous men and women who have served and sacrificed so much for each of us.

  • Reid lards up defense bill with immigration reform

    Reid tries to sneak immigration reform measures through the Senate by adding them to the upcoming defense bill, according to CNN;

    Reid called the DREAM Act “really important” and said it should be passed because it provides a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants who go to college or serve in the military. DREAM is an acronym for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act.

    “I know we can’t do comprehensive immigration reform,” Reid said at a news conference. “But those Republicans we had in the last Congress have left us.”

    Many Hispanic voters are angry with Democratic leaders for not doing more to pass an immigration overhaul. The decision by Reid to add the DREAM Act now could help soothe that anger.

    And, of course, when Republicans vote against the immigration reform, VoteVets will write a piece on Vets Voice about how Republicans voted against funding the troops. Reid is only doing this to earn himself some votes in Nevada.

    Thanks to Old Trooper for the link.

  • Lowering the drinking age on-base

    Finally, a real issue; Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA), is planning on holding public meetings on whether facilities on military bases should allow military members to drink alcoholic beverages while they’re under the age of 21.

    Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., has said there is support among military leaders for proposed legislation to allow service members under 21 to drink beer and wine at base restaurants and clubs.

    If alcohol is going to be a legal beverage, I see no reason why 18-year-olds should be prevented from drinking. Especially if they’re in the military. No one can prevent anyone from being an idiot no matter how many laws get passed.

    At Fort Drum, many underage soldiers went to Canada where the drinking age was 18. Military bases around the world have a lower drinking age outside the gate. If the troops are drinking on their posts, at least they’ve got their buddies to take care of them and get them home.

  • Living MOH recipient named

    ROS sent us this link, and Blackfive and Dave In Texas have both written about SSG Sal Giunta the first living Medal of Honor recipient of the war against terror.

    I try to stay away from blog posts that most of the world has already commented upon if I don’t have anything to add, but I will say this; I’m so humbled and honored to watch the younger generation of soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen carry the guidion into the future with such selfless courage. I’m proud just to be alive during their time.