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

Category: Military issues

  • Crime and Punishment

    Remember the old MasterCard commercials that started out by listing two items and their cost, followed by a third thing that was “priceless”?  Well, how about this one:

    • Engineering Doctorate:  about $60,000
    • Two Round Trip Tickets to China:  around $3,000
    • Unauthorized Disclosure of Defense Technical Information Without Authorization:  5 years

    That’s what Sixing Liu – a permanent legal resident of the US – found out the hard way.  Liu had obtained a doctorate in engineering and was working as a contractor for a division of L3 Corporation.  He was working on numerous military projects.

    In 2009 and 2010, he took technical data concerning his work with him to conferences in China.  At those conferences, he gave presentations regarding his current work assignments.

    Liu was working on defense-related weapons programs.  He did not have prior authorization to release the data in question. 

    Liu ‘s attorney claimed that Liu had made a “grave error”, but had never intended to pass secrets to the Chinese government. Yeah, right.  Did Liu really think no one at his presentation might be from the Chinese government or military?  Or that no one in Chinese industry would pass the information along to the Chinese government?  If so, he has to be the dumbest SOB on earth with a doctorate in engineering.

    Liu was arrested at his home in Deerfield, IL, in 2011.  He was found guilty last fall on six counts of exporting defense data without permission, as well as on charges of possessing stolen trade secrets and lying to authorities. 

    On Monday, 25 March 2013, Liu was sentenced to 5 years in prison plus a $15,000 fine.  The government has 90 days to determine whether it will ask the judge to order Liu to pay restitution for any economic damages caused by his crimes.

    I wish he’d have gotten more time.  But I can probably live with this.

  • ND:tBF – the Tantrums Continue

    Kim Jong-Un – designated by Jonn as ND:tBF here at TAH – is at it again.  He’s throwing yet another temper tantrum.

    This time, per the official state news agency KCNA he’s put his artillery and rocket units on “combat-ready posture”.  He also says they’re ready to strike targets in “South Korea, Japan, Guam, Hawaii and the continental US”.  And he’s also warning South Korea that they should “be mindful that everything will be reduced to ashes and flames the moment the first attack is unleashed.”

    (yawn)  Just another episode of “Norks being Norks”, IMO.

    The Pentagon’s reaction?  The KNCA remarks were characterized as “bellicose rhetoric” by a spokesman.  The spokesman also indicated that US was prepared “to respond to any contingency.”

    No word on whether or not the Pentagon spokesman yawned, belched, or farted before or while making his remarks.  (smile)

  • The Latest Sinclair Update

    It’s time for yet another update on that “fine general”, BG Jeffrey A. Sinclair.

    You remember Sinclair, right – that Army BG accused of various types of  . . . interesting conduct while deployed to Afghanistan?  The same guy whose defense team (or someone else) apparently set up a PR web site to tell his side of the story – a site which IMO stops just short of admitting many if not virtually all of the accusations against him?

    Recently, it appears Sinclair’s current defense team was trying to convince the military judge essentially to allow a trial by multiple juries. The defense’s rationale was a fear that a single court-martial panel might be “overwhelmed” while considering many different charges involving multiple accusers.  I’m not sure I buy that; my guess is that they were angling for some oddball grounds for appeal if he’s convicted.

    In any case, the military judge didn’t buy it.  Sinclair will be tried by a single court-martial panel on all charges.  The judge observed that the members of his court-martial panel – which will apparently consist of other GOs – would be “highly educated and likely to follow instructions”.

    Gee – ya think?

  • Wounded soldier’s request goes unheeded

    Private Emily Tomkins

    This one is going to get me in trouble, but the story bears repeating. It’s about Private Emily Tomkins who was treating a recently wounded soldier in Afghanistan, both of his legs removed by an Improvised Explosive. She was a medic and had just administered a shot of morphine that didn’t seem to be doing it’s job. She explained to the soldier that she couldn’t give him another for fear of making his condition worse. So the wounded youngster told her;

    “Well do something useful and show me your boobs,” she recalled the soldier saying.

    Brushing off his request, Tomkins proceeded to carry the injured wounded soldier to safety and is credited with saving his life.

    “I was just doing my job,” she said.

    Yeah, well, I can see that being a true story. That probably would have been my last request, too. Don’t hate.

  • Green Ramp tragedy anniversary

    On March 23, 1994, 24 paratroopers died and more than 100 were injured. 19 of the dead were from the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. the accident happened on the world-famous “Green Ramp” at Fort Bragg while the paratroopers were waiting for a routine parachute jump when a F-16D Fighting Falcon collided with a C-130E Hercules cargo plane. From the Fayetteville Observer;

    [Keith] Masback and the other soldiers in the jumpmaster school were just outside the path of the blast, shielded by a building, according to investigators’ diagrams of the crash site.

    “Of course, I heard it and felt the fireball on the back of my neck,” said Masback, then a captain with the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade working in the 18th Airborne Corps headquarters.

    “It all just kind of happened very quickly. We hit the ground and most of us crawled into our building,” Masback said, describing the confusion that day. “We had no context . to be standing on a beautiful March day and for it to turn hellacious.”

    Masback remembers the carnage – burning trees and burning men, blood, debris and body parts.

    Despite the destruction, Masback, now president of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation in Washington, D.C., said the response of those around him is what stands out most.

    “We all just reacted,” he said. “It was a horrific day, but it was a great day to be a paratrooper because of the way we all responded.”

    Soldiers who escaped injury tended to those in need, Masback said. Wounded soldiers turned to help those with more severe injuries, even as ammunition from the fighter jet burned off.

    “It was overwhelming,” he said. “Everywhere I turned, there were lifeless and injured bodies. Those not debilitated were aiding those that were.”

    Another reminder that training is just as deadly as combat operations sometimes.

  • In Memoriam: Ten Years Ago

    On 23 March 2003, the US military suffered its first wartime “fragging” incident since Vietnam.  On that date Hasan Karim Akbar – then a soldier assigned to A Company, 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Infantry Division – conducted a grenade and firearms attack on fellows soldiers at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait. 

    To execute his attack, Akbar first disabled a generator to disrupt lighting during the early morning hours while most troops were asleep. He then threw four grenades stolen from supply into three sleeping tents. In the resulting confusion,  he fired at other US troops with his assigned weapon.

    Akbar’s attack killed two US personnel – CPT Christopher S. Seifert, 101st Airborne, and Maj. Gregory L. Stone, 124th Air Operations Squadron, who was attached to the 101st Airborne at the time.  Fourteen other US personnel were wounded.

    Akbar was apprehended after the attack.  He was tried by court-martial and found guilty of premeditated murder in April 2005.  During his court-martial, he attacked and injured an MP escorting him to the latrine with a smuggled sharp object. 

    Akbar was convicted of murder and was sentenced to death.  His case was automatically appealed to the Court of Military Appeals, which heard his appeal in 2012.  A decision on his appeal is still pending. 

    Rest in peace, Maj. Stone and CPT Seifert.  You’re not forgotten.

    And as for you, Akbar: it may take a while, but I’m guessing that your days are indeed numbered.  I’m also guessing that you won’t die of old age.

    I recommend you start making your preparations to meet Shaytan. 

  • “The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves”

    Recently, 10 soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea were involved in serious and apparently alcohol-related incidents.  One incident was a 5-person knife fight.  Two other incidents involved wee-hours fights with civilian Korean police.

    Those are bad news.  So the offenders are getting “hammered” for getting hammered and stupid, right?

    Well, yes.  But so is every other soldier in the 2nd ID.

    The CG has announced the following corrective measures in response to these incidents.  He’s imposing them ostensibly to “ensure readiness”.

    • Suspension of alcohol consumption.
    • Termination of all three- and four-day weekend passes.
    • A complete review of the pass policy.
    • A review of all soldiers who have had past misconduct.
    • Training on responsible conduct.
    • Leadership seminars that will focus on discipline and its relationship to readiness.

    It’s your command, General.  Yes, political impact and relations with your host nation are realities you have to consider.  And yes, it’s completely within your authority to do exactly what you did.

    But from what I’ve seen in the past, indiscriminate mass punishments of innocent and guilty alike often are counterproductive.  And I’ve always thought that treating troops like adults rather than children was generally a better approach.

    The knuckleheads who get drunk and seriously stupid indeed need to be nailed to the wall.  But I frankly don’t see a need to punish the other 99+% who weren’t total idiots.

    (sigh)  I’d hoped we’d moved past this kind of 18th Century leadership in our armed forces.  I guess I was wrong.

  • A Hassan Update

    Well, it looks like Hassan ploy to avoid the needle by pleading is a NO-GO.  (Yeah, I know – he’s still technically a member of the military.  I don’t care.  I refuse to give that treacherous asshole the honor of using a military title with his name.)  The judge didn’t take the bait.

    Nidal Hassan, the Fort Hood shooter, recently offered to plead guilty to noncapital murder.   However, the military judge in the case, COL Tara Osborn, refused to accept his plea.  He’ll be tried for capital murder, with the death penalty in play.

    IMO, COL Olson made the correct decision.  The UCMJ prohibits pleading guilty to a capital crime.  While theoretically his trial on capital murder charges could have proceeded after a guilty plea to noncapital murder, that might possibly also have given Nidal an avenue for appeal.  In that scenario Hassan would have pleaded guilty to a lesser included crime, then later been convicted for the original crime for which he was charged.  You never know beforehand how the Court of Military Appeals or the SCOTUS might view such a situation.

    The possibility for the plea influencing one or more panel members was also likely a consideration. Death penalty sentences under the UCMJ must be unanimous.  The defense was obviously hoping that a guilty plea to lesser charges, if accepted, would be considered as “acceptance of responsibility” (yeah, right) during sentencing deliberations.

    COL Osborn is also weighing whether to allow the testimony of an terrorism expert.  Defense attorneys predictably oppose this, claiming it would be “prejudicial”.

    The wheels of justice indeed turn slowly.  But as I’m guessing Hassan is going to find out, they also grind exceedingly fine.

    Keep thinking about those “72 virgins”, Nidal.  Hopefully you’ll be seeing them soon.  And to help you better appreciate what’s in store for you, here’s your own personalized preview (WARNING:  image may be disturbing to full stomachs):

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