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

Category: Military issues

  • Yeah, Concerns About Those Released Taliban Were Just A “Lot of Baloney”

    Remember warnings that those 5 Taliban exchanged for Bergdahl would shortly return to jihad against America? And remember our good SECSTATE, some guy named John (he served in Vietnam, you know) Kerry, saying that threats that they’d return to the battlefield were a ”lot of baloney”?

    Well, it turns out that a few others were raising the same red flags. And they were raising those red flags well before the deal for Bergdahl was made.

    Who? Try agencies of the US Intelligence Community, that’s who. That was the conclusion of a formal multi-agency assessment report compiled prior to the deal, prepared during deliberations regarding the proposed deal.

    The report concluded that two of the 5 to be released would likely return to senior positions within the Taliban. The report also assessed that two others would likely return to the Taliban in some capacity.

    Only one was rated as being unlikely to return to active Taliban membership (he’d apparently been in contact with US officials prior to his capture). However, that individual was reportedly also angry that he’d been held at Guantanamo after he’d been cooperating with the US, so I wouldn’t personally be surprised to see him return to the Taliban (or some other active jihadist group) too.

    That deal for Bergdahl’s release is looking better and better every day, isn’t it?

  • So: How’s It Feel to Be Thrown Under the Bus, Mr. SECDEF?

    It appears as if the Administration’s story about Bergdahl’s release is morphing again. And now that there’s pushback, it also looks like they’ve decided on a scapegoat to take the heat.

    Last week, SECDEF Hagel made the following statements to the BBC:

    Last week, Hagel said the swap was a unanimous decision when speaking to the BBC.

    ‘It was the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of National Intelligence, Attorney General,’ he said.

    But now that there’s been some pushback regarding the deal, here’s what the Administration was saying yesterday:

    Final approval for the prisoner exchange that freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was made by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, members of Congress learned on Monday from administration officials.

    ‘They indicated (it was) Secretary Hagel (who made the final call),’ Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) said after a classified briefing, ABC points out.

    It also seems that 80 to 90 people in the Administration were aware that the deal was being made before it happened. In contrast, zero Members of Congress were informed a priori – as required by Federal law.

    For the SECDEF’s sake, I hope that bus has plenty of ground clearance. ‘Cause it certainly looks like he’s about to get a close-up view of its undercarriage.

  • SPC Tinita Taylor: The Warrior Princess

    SPC Tinita Taylor: The Warrior Princess

    Tinita Taylor

    A couple of folks have sent us a link to ARMY.MIL where they report that the first female soldier, Specialist Tinita Taylor, has “graduated” from the Jungle Operations Training Course in Hawai’i.

    “I wanted to prove to the men that I can do what they can do,” said Spc. Tinita Taylor, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd BCT.

    Completing the course was not an easy task for her. According to Taylor, the mental tasks were the hardest to overcome.

    “I had to keep reminding myself ‘mind over matter’; my head and body had to work together to finish this,” said Taylor.

    “My body held up, but telling myself I can do it is what I needed to do,” she continued.

    The Caruthersville, Mo., native said she got her drive from wanting to be one of her childhood role models.

    “By completing this course, I feel I am halfway to being that warrior princess I want to be,” said Taylor.

    Enduring the course opened Taylor’s eyes to what infantrymen do, and she found a new respect for them.

    Congratulations, Specialist.

    But can someone tell me how this makes our military better able to face our nation’s enemies? I’m sure she had a lot of obstacles to overcome, but she used a lot of “I’s” in that statement. Now, if JOTC hasn’t changed since I went through (when mastadons still roamed the Earth) it is a unit course, not a course that tests the individuals, but rather a course that trains the team to function in a jungle environment. I went though it with my squad and my platoon. Granted there were individual skills that were trained but we were evaluated as a unit.

    So, that makes me wonder how Specialist Taylor got into the course in the first place. And if they still teach the course and evaluate units the way they did back in olden times, how was that unit that she was attached to benefit from having her going through the training? Or is this just another school where you get another badge for the badge-happy Army?

    Graduating from jungle school is just the beginning of what Taylor has in mind to add to her list of accomplishments. Next up is Air Assault, which she plans on attending later this year, and then it is on to Pre-Ranger and Ranger School.

    “My goal is to be the first female Soldier to complete Ranger School,” said Taylor.

    Any schools in your future that don’t have a badge involved? By the way, you have to go to through jump school before Ranger School, specialist.

  • Some People Got Some ‘Splainin’ To Do . . .

    . . . and, I’d guess, also need to start working on a new resume.

    From the Army Times:

    The National Guard says an artillery shell fired by a Missouri Army National Guard unit during training at Fort Chaffee landed near a home in Franklin County.

    The incident occurred on Thursday, 5 June 2014.

    Although there were no casualties, that’s due as much due to blind luck as anything else. The errant round was a live round, fired during a live fire exercise. The home was damaged by shrapnel.

    The unit involved was the 1st Battalion, 129th Field Artillery Regiment of Maryville, Missouri. It was ordered to cease training, and the incident is under investigation.

  • About That Claim Bergdahl Was In “Imminent Danger” . . . .

    Remember that claim by Administration officials that they needed to expedite the exchange of five Taliban for Bergdahl because Bergdahl was in extremely poor health? Health so poor that they were concerned that his life was in “imminent danger” of dying soon?

    Well, seems that “concern” apparently was misplaced. If such a concern ever existed at all – and wasn’t just more Administration dissembling to hide the real reason the deal was jammed through so quickly.

    US medical personnel have now had a chance to examine Bergdahl and evaluate his post-release physical condition. He’s been examined.

    He was reportedly found to be ”healthier than expected” and “physically sound”.  So much for his being in “imminent danger” of death.

    Look, I don’t have a clue as to Bergdahl’s current physical condition.  But I can certainly see that what’s been released by the Administration to date as a rationale for expediting the deal which gained his release is, to be charitable, “highly questionable if not completely inaccurate”.

    This new information clearly disproves the Administration’s claim regarding why the deal for Bergdahl’s release was expedited.  Clearly Bergdahl’s life was not in any “imminent danger” of death due to poor health.

    Hell, even Senator Diane Feinstein, D-CA – a key Administration ally who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee – isn’t buying it. When asked her opinion regarding an imminent threat to Berghdal’s life, she stated:  “I don’t think there was a credible threat. I have no information that there was.”

    At this point I’m not inclined to write this one off as just a simple error by the Administration, either.  Either the Administration was so clueless as to let itself be horribly duped, or it was outright lying when it offered Bergdahl’s health as the reason for expediting the deal for his release.  The former shows gross incompetence; the latter is reprehensible behavior.  Neither is acceptable.

    Now, why would the Administration dissemble about the reason for expediting the deal for Bergdahl’s release? You don’t suppose the real reason for jamming the deal through quickly (and in violation of Federal law regarding informing Congress well in advance of the release of any terrorist detained at Guantanamo) might have been to deflect attention from the current VA scandal, do you?

    Nah. This Administration would never do something like that!  Why, how dare anyone suggest such a thing!

    Yeah, right. And I’m the freaking rightful Emperor of China, too.

  • On SGM Archie who didn’t head butt a protester

    On SGM Archie who didn’t head butt a protester

    Ethan Arguello

    So there’s quite a discussion going on about Sergeant Major Archie in yesterday’s post. First, I want to apologize to the Sergeant Major – clearly he didn’t “head-butt” Mr. Arguello. The title of the post was based on the news article description of the incident according to a witness. After watching the video, there was no head-butt as I understand the word.

    There is a good story about Sergeant Major Archie in Stars & Stripes and an insurgent attack that he was involved in back in October 2006 when he was First Sergeant in Iraq. You should read it to get a sense of the man.

    Thinking back on the event, Archie realized he was exposed running around the base, but that wasn’t a concern at the time, he said.

    “When you’re in a combat situation, you are thinking about the Marines more than yourself,” Archie said.

    Archie went to three different posts to supervise the Marines, bring ammunition to Marines who needed it, and fight the enemy himself.

    “I’m a rifleman just like my Marines,” Archie said. “That means if they’re fighting, I’m fighting right beside them.”

    The battle lasted for more than an hour, during which about 60 Marines fought between 20 and 30 insurgents.

    After the shooting stopped, evidence was found suggesting that 11 of the insurgents had been hit, Archie said.

    It’s probably no secret that I hate protesters, especially protesters like Mr. Arguello whose only point is that they’re attention whores. Mr. Arguello, according to reports, called around Parris Island trolling for someone to give him permission to wear his DI cover for his protest. One of the people he called was SGM Archie who told him that it wouldn’t be appropriate. Arguello, apparently, didn’t like the answers he was getting, so he wore it anyway.

    You have to ask yourself “What was his point?” What did a DI cover have to do with Taliban prisoners? Like the IVAW protesters we’ve seen in our recent past, he only wore it for the moral authority that he perceived that the hat would lend his protest. And the attention that he could garner.

    The sergeant major gave him a number of opportunities to allow the theme of his protest to have it’s own moral authority without the hat and Mr. Arguello couldn’t see the light.

    In April of 2000, I trolled a protest against the World Bank in DC an found a youngster with a upside down US flag. I tried to explain to him about how wrong that was to display the flag in that manner. He wouldn’t listen to me, so I took his little flag and the pole to which it was attached. Arguably, that was similar to the Archie vs. Arguello incident. It was about a protest, it was about symbols, it involved me taking someone else’s property. But, I’m pretty sure that few of you would condemn me for my actions like some of you are condemning SGM Archie.

    Mr. Arguello, appropriating the symbolism of the Drill Instructor’s campaign cover is no different, in my mind, than the stank-ass hippie who appropriated the image of a an upside down flag. Both were used to elicit an emotional response from opponents. Both got what they asked for. But, we all have our opinions.

    Archie probably shouldn’t have injected his august presence in the protest, but Arguello shouldn’t have worn the cover for no good reason, either. There’s lots of blame to go around, but Archie should have elevated himself above the confrontation.

  • US Color Guard to march in DC Gay Pride parade

    According to the Washington Post, the Armed Forces Color Guard will accompany the Washington, DC Gay Pride parade;

    Shortly after Dykes on Bikes rumble across the starting line of the Capital Pride parade in downtown Washington on Saturday, an expected 150,000 spectators should witness something never before seen on an American city street — a U.S. Armed Forces color guard marching alongside rainbow flags in a gay pride parade.

    The Department of Defense has authorized what military gay-rights groups and organizers of the Capital Pride parade say is a first nationwide — a color guard that will present the red, white and blue and flags of each branch of the military.

    The eight-member team is scheduled to help lead off the 1.5-mile parade, immediately preceding the Capital Pride lead banner and grand marshall Chris Kluwe, the former NFL punter and author of the book “Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies.”

    I’ve accidentally watched the DC Gay Pride parade. My wife and I were on a “walking tour” of the British March on the White House in 1814. We were walking back when we saw a parade coming so we stopped to watch. In the lead were cheerleaders – as they got closer, we saw that they were cheerleaders with beards and hairy legs. It just got more bizarre from the point – we couldn’t watch it all.

    I don’t understand why the Department of Defense thought that it was a good idea to have an honorable and solemn representation at that clown show. Gay Pride parades have historically been made up of the worst stereotypes of the gay community. Living in DC, I had a few gay friends who hated the event.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • Meanwhile, Back In the Apparently-Forgotten Eastern Ukraine . . .

    . . . a shooting war seems to have broken out.

    This conflict recently appears to have been pretty much ignored by our “wonderful” mainstream media. They seem far more interested in chasing the latest “bright shiny objects” (the VA scandal and the POTUS’’s remarks concerning Syria).

    Here’s a brief summary of what’s been happening in the Eastern Ukraine recently:

    • Ukrainian forces have launched a major effort to retake the eastern Ukraine from pro-Russian separatist militias.
    • Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine have resisted, resulting in the beginning of a de facto shooting war.
    • Pro-Russian separatists have attempted to seize the Donetsk airport, currently held by Ukrainian forces. They were repelled, with significant casualties.
    • Ukrainian forces have committed heavy artillery and jet aircraft to hostilities around the city of Slovansk.
    • The self-appointed pro-Russian mayor of Slovansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, has stated that a missing 4-man OSCE observer team – who were sent to an area controlled by pro-Russian forces after being told they were not welcome and should stay out – is safe, presumably in the custody of pro-Russian forces. He has promised their release, but did not specify when that would occur.
    • A Ukrainian helicopter carrying 14 – including a Ukrainian General, Serhiy Kulchyskiy – was downed by pro-Russian forces, apparently using a MANPADS.  There were no survivors.
    • Ukrainian forces – including helicopters, armored vehicles, and other combat troops – have moved towards Donetsk. The Ukrainian government has threatened to retake Donetsk by force if necessary.

    Russian forces have not yet intervened. It’s an open question at this point of whether or not they will.

    Some additional details and background can be found in this article from Fox News.

    Yeah, this one’s getting . . . kinda hot.