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

Category: Military issues

  • Unanswered Questions About Repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

    In the President’s State of the Union, just like he did as a candidate and on multiple occasions during his first year as President, Obama promised to work towards ending the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The Obama Administration has said it does not have the power to end DADT through executive order and that the only constitutional way to repeal the policy is through Congress. I don’t think this is even going to be a priority for the administration and Congress, with the obvious focus being on jobs, healthcare, and of course the 2010 election which are now only about nine months away. However, I am bothered by the way politicians and media discuss DADT, just like I am bothered by the shallow way that most issues involving the military are discussed. It is implied that all that needs to happen with DADT is that Congress and the President need to wave a magic wand and gays can serve openly the next day without a hitch. I’m pretty sure that most readers of this blog and anybody who has served in the military knows that this is not the case. There are serious policy, operational, logistical, and of course fiscal issues that the repeal of DADT poses to our military, which is in the middle of a very kinetic fight in Afghanistan and massive drawdown in Iraq.

    Lets go over some of the questions that nobody in the Obama administration or Congress has addressed in regards to repealing DADT:

    1. Will there be seperate barracks, berthing, and living quarters for homosexuals?

    With the Army and Marine Corps having expanded over the past three years and with the Navy changing its policies on living on ship while in port, there is a severe shortage of housing for both single and married military personnel. Not to mention that on naval vessels there is already limited berthing spaces for sailors/Marines. Mandating that homosexuals have their own living quarters (like some colleges and universities do) will require new construction of barracks and a complete rearrangement and reconfiguring of hundreds of naval vessels. On the other hand, allowing homosexuals to live with heterosexuals, will cause a whole different set of headaches for military commanders.

    2. Will homosexuals be allowed to serve in combat arms units?

    Women are forbidden by Congress to serve in combat arms units (infantry, arty, tanks, etc.). Some of the same issues surrounding women serving in combat units are present in the debate over gays serving openly in these same units.

    3. Will people discharged under DADT be allowed to reenlist/recommission in the military if the policy is repealed?

    I don’t know how many people who were discharged under DADT would want to reenter the military, but there are even more questions that need to be answered if they are allowed to reenter. Will they retain their same rank/billet regardless how long they have been out? Will they get retroactive promotions?

    4. If homosexuals are allowed to serve openly in the military, will the military recognize and award benefits to gay marriages or civil unions?

    5. Will each service be allowed to craft its own policies regarding homosexuals?

    Each service has its own operational needs and missions. Will the DoD have an across the board policy or like with women will each service be given some degree of freedom to craft its own policies?

    And finally…

    6. How much money is repealing DADT going to cost?

    Everytime the military changes a policy, it costs money. A major policy change like this one is going to cost that Defense Department a lot of money to implement and the amount depends a lot on the answers to the questions that I have posed. Thats money that can be spent on things like body armor, new vehicles, new guns, or any number of things that are important to an effective military.

    If anybody has any links to the Obama administration addressing these issues in writing or on video, I would greatly appreciate it if you provided the links in the comment sections.

  • Smaller payraise for troops?

    A few weeks ago I wrote that retired military checks got smaller this year compared to last year, despite the fact that our costs of living had risen – 2.7% the last six months of 2009 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Well, now it’s time for the active duty to shoulder their part of the White House budget, too, according to Stars & Stripes;

    The White House will propose a 1.4 percent military pay increase in 2011, which if approved would be the smallest since the start of all-volunteer military in 1973.

    That figure represents a steep drop from the 3.9 percent boost troops saw earlier this month.

    White House officials said the 1.4 percent figure, which will be included in the fiscal 2011 budget to be unveiled Monday, is based on projected private sector wage increases for next year.

    So even though the cost of living is increasing, the cost of living increases are decreasing. I think I said back in 2008 that the first people to bear the brunt of Democrat spending increases will be the military and retirees. I’m not prophetic, I’m just speaking from experience. Keep that in mind when you listen to the State of the Union Address.

  • Rot In Hell

    The Iraqi government announced today the death of Ali Hassan Al-Majid, the notorious cousin of Saddam Huessin who became known as “Chemical Ali” because of his role in using chemcial against the Kurds.  He was hanged shortly after recieving his FOURTH death sentence (and unfortunately they only hanged him once).  Ali Hassan also was the military governor of Kuwait following its occupation by Iraq and helped to crush a Shiite rebellion in southern Iraq after the Gulf War. He was part of Saddam’s inner-circle for many and was able to remain consisently in Saddam’s favor, unlike many of his other relatives, including his sadistic son Uday.

    I don’t think anybody will be missing him.

    “I want to kiss the hangman’s rope,” said Kamil Mahmoud, a 40-year-old teacher who lost eight family members in the March 16, 1988, attack in Iraq’s Kurdish region.”

  • 19 years ago

    A new reader reminded me last night that it’s been 19 years since the ground war was launched on January 24th, 1991. Hardly seems possible. The reader was in the artillery unit that supported COB6 and I and here’s some pictures he so graciously allowed me to borrow of the 4st Battery 3th Artillery Regiment with the 1st Infantry Division in those days;

    4/3 ARTY

    4/3th ARTY

    MLRS

  • Guantanamo’s last holdouts

    soltz-camerino-filner

    While Anthony Camerino and some guy who looks like Michael Scott from “The Office” were in the office of Bob Filner the other day trying to get Guantanamo Bay detainee facility shut down, look what the Obama Administration announced according to the New York Times;

    The Obama administration has decided to continue to imprison without trials nearly 50 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba because a high-level task force has concluded that they are too difficult to prosecute but too dangerous to release, an administration official said on Thursday.

    However, the administration has decided that nearly 40 other detainees should be prosecuted for terrorism or related war crimes. And the remaining prisoners, about 110 men, should be repatriated or transferred to other countries for possible release, the official said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the numbers.

    So where are the mobs in the street vocally condemning the president for continuing the Bush policy of holding criminals without trials? The only people concerned about it are leftovers from the last decade who don’t know anything else. Do you honestly think that this administration would do something that really that unpopular? Where are the active duty troops that are worried they’re going to be killed by new recruits who fill the ranks of the Taliban and al Qaeda because of the continued operations at Guantanamo?

    Of course, Air Force Major (promotable) Anthony Camerino still clings to the atrocities of Guantanamo – that’s his only claim to fame. He’s stuck in the aughts. So is Soltz and his crowd – they have to stay in business and raise money without pissing off their MoveOn masters in regards to their President. Anything they can do to keep Bush Derangement Syndrome on life support helps them.

    But on my last foray to VoteVets, they had the guts to call me a “troll with a political agenda”. And the Bush detainee program is beginning to look like the only viable solution to a complicated problem. Camerino and Soltz are just wrong.

  • The Few, The Proud…

    sanmateo

    …the incredibly bored and stupid.

    These are Marines with 5th Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton (San Mateo), which is being hit by the worst storm in a decade. I miss working with people like this…

  • “Jesus” Rifles

    I’m sure some of you already saw this, but apparently Trijicon has been inscribing references to Bible passages on its optics. After several media outlets issued reports about this, Trijicon agreed to remove the inscriptions.

    Here is a report on the inscriptions from ABC News.

    I used the ACOG a lot during my time in the Marines and I never noticed this. The serial number is on the topic of the optic and I honestly never really paid attention to those numbers and letters towards the base of the scope. I never heard anybody in the Marines or any of my buddies in the Army mention the fact these inscriptions existed on the ACOG, so if Trijicon’s intention was to spread the word of the Lord to the users of their optics, I don’t think they have succeeded. Regardless, it was a stupid thing to in the first place. Now they have to remove the inscriptions from thousands of optics, which cost the company millions, money that could have gone into developing better products. Anybody with half a brain, knows that the Iraqis, Afghans, and the US military are extremely sensitive to any accusation of promoting Christianity (in other words, “crusading”).

  • The Jarhead Thread

    There have been a few stories that I have been wanting to blog about involving the Marines, so instead of making several posts I have decided to make one. I think it will make it easier to comment and for you Army pukes to talk to trash. Enjoy…

    22nd MEU Deploying to Haiti

    These Marines just got off a six-month long deployment, most of it spent in Kuwait and other parts of the Middle East. I doubt many of the Marines that are part of this MEU are happy about this and I have no doubt if Bush were still President I’m sure Katie Couric would be in Jacksonville interviewing families about the strain this emergency deployment is putting on them. Oh the double standard…

    Politics aside, a MEU is the best equipped military unit to handle a disaster like this. A MEU has a perfect mix of equipment for operations like this, including its own fleet of helicopters, amphibious vehicles, and engineering equipment. I saw a report on CNN that said the road leading out of the main port in Port-au-Prince was heavily damaged and most of the unloading equipment was destroyed in the earthquake. The 22nd MEU can offload supplies onto any beach in Haiti while its combat engineers repair the roads and equipment at the port. This is why almost every year the three forward deployed MEUs (one out of Japan, Pendleton, and Lejuene) conduct multiple humanitarian missions every year.

    A little side story about the Marines that responded to Hurricane Katrina. Most of the Marines were rotated out when they had been in the disaster zone 29 days. Why 29 days? Because at 30 days the Marine Corps the would have to start paying separation allowances and hazardous duty pay. Most Marines were also denied the Humanitarian Service Medal, probably by a bunch of pogue officers that the closest they got to New Orleans was an office in Quantico. I wonder if this will happen again…

    San Diego Man Pleads Guilty for Posing as Marine Two Star General

    One place where it is probably not a good idea to fake being a general is at a VFW hall, especially on the Marine Corps’ birthday. But then again, you have to be pretty stupid to attempt something like this in the first place.

    Scott Ritter Arrested in Online Sex Sting……AGAIN

    What does this have to do with the Marines? Well, just like Lee Harvey Oswald, Charles Whitman, and John Wayne Bobbitt, Scott Ritter was a former Marine. His first arrest wasn’t widely reported, for reasons unknown to me (maybe it had something to do with his views on the Iraq War…) Hopefully they will keep his dumbass locked up this time.

    Last Marines Leave Iraq

    The last Marines are leaving Iraq this month, officially turning everything over to the Army and the Iraqis. When the Marines rolled into Anbar in 2004, it was the center of the Sunni insurgency. Today, it is one of the most stable parts of Iraq and has seen the quickest drawdown of American forces. The Marine Corps, Army, and Navy (the SEALs, EOD, Seabees, Corpsmans, etc.) and even the Air Force (especially in retrograde of equipment) all contributed to the victory there and it should be a point of pride in all the services.

    Semper Fidelis….