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

Category: Military issues

  • Another O-6 facing an Article 32

    Another O-6 facing an Article 32

    Jeff-Pounding

    Greg and ARNG have sent us links to this story about Colonel Jeffrey Pounding, the deputy director of the National Guard Bureau’s strategic plans and policy directorate (J-5). I guess he’s facing charges of knowingly exposing a woman to HIV, according to the Army Times;

    Pounding is accused of having unprotected sex with a woman who is not his wife during three different time periods, according to the charge sheet against him.

    According to the charges, Pounding exposed his partner to the HIV virus, “a means likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm,” through unprotected sex between Nov. 1, 2009, and May 31, 2010, in Bryan, Texas.

    Another incident occurred Dec. 6-9, 2010, in Arlington, Virginia. A third incident is alleged to have occurred Sept. 6-9, 2011, in Southern Pines, North Carolina, according to the charge sheet.

    The article says that during that period, Pounding knew he had HIV. Are they sure that convicting him of this particular crime won’t violate his privacy? That was sarcasm, by the way.

  • John Paul Jones, Meet “Star Wars”

    Apparently the Navy has deployed a new, high-tech weapon system in the Persian Gulf. It’s an operational prototype of a 30-killowat laser weapon system.

    This one is more than simply a “dazzeler”, too. Though it has non-lethal modes of operation (including “dazzling” an opponent’s eyes), it’s also reportedly capable of destroying small targets.

    Bloomberg.com has a decent article on the subject. If you’re interested in either new weapons or Naval matters, IMO it’s worth a look.

  • Oh, Fer Christsakes – Not Again?!

    Geez. Will someone PLEASE give the     clueless fools in charge in DC      current Administration a quarter and tell them where they can buy a clue?

    Title of the article says it all:

    U.S. weighs expanded CIA training, arming of Syrian allies struggling against Assad

    “Bad idea, sir. Very bad idea.”

  • So, How Are Things In Iraq Going These Days?

    So, How Are Things In Iraq Going These Days?

    Not so good, apparently.  In fact, it looks like those 1,600 or so “advisors” we already have there are about to have some company.  Because – in time-honored “bury news we don’t want anyone to notice by announcing it no a Friday afternoon” tradition, yesterday we had this little announcement:

    Obama authorizes 1,500 more troops for Iraq

    This won’t be free, of course.  So the Administration is asking for an additional $5+ billion to pay for their deployment.  And a significant change to previous policy, our troops will now be allowed to operate at installations outside of Baghdad and Erbil, too.

    But don’t worry that we’re about to get involved in another war in Iraq – oh, no.  These new troops will be “advisers, trainers and security personnel“.     But according to the White House, they “won’t serve in a combat role“.

    Yeah, right.  Does anyone really believe that last load of bullsh!t?  Our “advisers” in Vietnam prior to July 1965 supposedly weren’t “serving in a combat role”, either.

    Ya know, sometimes it seems to me like we should have negotiated an agreement to leave a few units in-place in Iraq in 2011 rather than pulling everything out helter-skelter.  But I guess that just wasn’t possible.  And besides, no one believed we ever might need to have forces on the ground there after the end of 2011 to guard against the possibility of future troubles – well, except for the SECDEF at the time and a former Ambassador to Iraq.

    Are your pants legs wet yet?  Better check.  And, for the record: it was pretty clear here yesterday.  So if you’re leg’s wet, I don’t think that was rain – even if some folks keep telling you its been raining.

    From Jonn; I wrote a post on the same subject before I saw Hondo’s post so I added it below rather than make two posts;

    last convoy out of Iraq

    What? No, that can’t be right. Reuters is reporting that the Obama Administration has announced that they’re sending 1500 more troops to Iraq. It was announced a few days after the election, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it. So what’s that? About 3,000 US troops there now?

    [Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John] Kirby told a Pentagon news briefing that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was urging Congress to approve the funding as soon as possible. It is part of a larger $5.6 billion supplemental spending request.

    Alarmed by the advance of Islamic State militants across Iraq, Obama began sending non-combatant troops back to Iraq in the summer for the first time since he withdrew U.S. forces from the country in 2011.

    Officials denied the troop buildup amounted to “mission creep” and said it was justified partly because of Iraqi Shi’ite efforts to reach out to Sunni tribesmen after the election of Shi’ite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

    Yeah, it is not mission creep. It started with 200 troops and now it has increased to 15 times that number. And they still insist that they’re not there to engage in combat operations. Put enough of them on the ground and they will be engaged whether you want them to be or not.

  • 2ID’s 1st ABCT to deactivate

    2ID’s 1st ABCT to deactivate

    Reuters reports the Army announcement to deactivate the 2d Infantry Division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team in Korea. The mission of the brigade will be assumed by units rotating into the country from some-damn-where;

    Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the move was long-planned and did not represent a reduction in U.S. commitment to South Korean security. In fact, he said, similarly sized, fully trained units would be rotated into South Korea for nine-month tours.

    Defense officials said the rotation of units that had trained together beforehand, rather than individuals who had to get to know their fellow soldiers upon arrival, could improve unit cohesion and readiness of U.S. forces in South Korea.

    “There’s not loss in capability,” Warren said. “Some would argue that the capability might even be slightly higher because it’s a trained unit that arrives there in Korea.”

    The Military Times says that the first unit to rotate into the slot will come from Fort Hood, Texas and the 1st Cavalry Division;

    The Army plans to start rotating a BCT into South Korea in late summer 2015.

    The first brigade to go is 2nd BCT, 1st Cavalry Division, of Fort Hood, Texas. About 4,600 soldiers from the unit will deploy in June, the Defense Department announced Thursday.

    The plan is to rotate one BCT at a time into South Korea “like we’ve done in Iraq and Afghanistan for the last 13 years,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno has said. “There’ll always be a brigade in Korea, but they’ll rotate from the United States.”

    The Army tested its rotational model with battalion-sized units, beginning last fall when 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, was sent there for a nine-month tour.

    In February, the Army deployed 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment to Korea.

    I think the Army did the same thing in the mid-70s in Germany, but they abandoned the plan after a while because of costs involved with moving entire units into the theater, and then the units weren’t as familiar with the AO as units that were stationed there. There was no institutional memory related to the terrain and the mission in a particular area of operations. Everything old is new again.

    Thanks to Andy for the Reuters link.

  • McCain promises to rescue the Warthog from extinction

    McCain promises to rescue the Warthog from extinction

    The Military Times reports that John McCain promised to save the A-10 Thunderbolt from being retired by the Air Force;

    McCain said Thursday the A-10 is the best close-air support aircraft ever made and there is “no doubt” Congress will prevent its retirement. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson has 80 of the twin-jet planes and trains A-10 pilots.

    McCain says there’s no replacement for the jet’s close-air support mission and pointed to a June friendly fire in Afghanistan where a B-1 bomber mistakenly targeted American troops, killing five.

    Military.com speculates that McCain may end up being the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the next Congress;

    He’s taken outspoken stances on many of the recent defense issues that have dominated the military to include the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, supporting rebels in Syria and holding the defense industry accountable for failures on big ticket weapons programs.

    McCain was one of the first lawmakers to urge President Obama to start arming Syrian rebels from the outset of the civil war. In fact, he snuck into Syria last year to meet with Syrian rebel leaders.

    If he’s successful saving the A-10, he’ll have done more for infantrymen than he’s ever done.

  • Nice Sidestep, Mr. SECNAV. Nice Backbone, Mr. SECDEF.

    Remember those recent allegations that the military records of the outgoing Commandant of the Marine Corps – Gen James Amos – were not exactly 100% “kosher”? You know, that little “oopsie” where somehow a signed official bio submitted for Senate confirmation seemed to claim that Gen Amos went to USMC’s “The Basic School” in 1972 when in truth he actually received credit for completing it via correspondence in 1977?

    Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that – in the words of Gertrude Stein – “there is no there there”. The SECDEF has determined that the error in Gen Amos’ bio was due to a “data entry error” on the part of the person preparing the resume, and that claims Gen Amos padded his resume were “not . . . credible.” He also further determined that Gen Amos did not engage in misconduct in terms of unlawful command influence two other matters – the famous “urination video” and “Heritage Brief” incidents.

    Bottom line:  “Nothing to see here, folks; move along.”  Gen Amos will retire with 4 stars.

    Well – isn’t that special. “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

    Frankly, the fact that Gen Amos will retire as a 4-star isn’t the part that bothers me the most. I indeed have a hard time believing that Gen Amos didn’t adequately and thoroughly review the bio submitted to Congress over his signature.  However, since someone else actually prepared the bio that claim is at least plausible (if IMO pretty damned unlikely).

    And while I have my own personal opinions about the other two incidents, I wasn’t there – so I don’t really know the “real deal” on those, either. The DoD IG apparently did clear him of outright misconduct in the “urination video” case.  Regarding the “Heritage Brief” issue, precisely when a public statement does and does not constitute improper command influence in a Court-Martial is IMO a fairly murky area.  And besides, even if Gen Amos “fornicated Fido”* in one or both of those cases I’m not sure that rises to the level of misconduct invalidating “successful service”.

    What bothers me more is the way this was handled by the SECNAV and SECDEF. The SECNAV could have handled this himself.  He didn’t; he punted it to the SECDEF.  And the SECDEF’s statement here IMO gives the distinct impression of obfuscating through dwelling on irrelevant trivia – perhaps in order to bolster a predetermined conclusion – vice making a decision based on his own evaluation of the pertinent facts.

    I mean really, Secretary Mabus:  you couldn’t review the facts and make the determination yourself whether Gen Amos was truthful when he submitted a signed bio to Congress that was incorrect? And really, Secretary Hagel:  blaming the submission of a clearly erroneous but signed document on a “data entry error”? Really?

    Bottom line: I’d expect a SECNAV to be more decisive than that.  And I’d expect both a SECNAV and SECDEF to actually, you know, face and make hard decisions head-on – particularly since the each is a member of the chain-of-command (administrative in the case of the SECNAV; both administrative and operational in the case of the SECDEF).

    One day, perhaps we’ll see that kind of decisive leadership again at senior levels.  But based on this, I guess we won’t see it any time soon.

     

    * – PC-speak for “screwed the pooch”.  Used here for the benefit of any of our sheltered-from-reality “liberal brethren” who might chance across this article and be offended by non-PC language.

  • Some Commanders “Get It”

    No comment required.

    I’m glad mission allowed the commander here to do the right thing – and that the guy’s commander did exactly that.

    If you follow the link, I think it might be a good idea to have a tissue handy.