Category: Military issues

The VFW’s Hill Blog reports that the Senate voted to force the services to reinstate their tuition assistance programs;

This afternoon the Senate passed an amendment to the Defense Continuing Resolution, H.R. 933, that will reinstate the military Tuition Assistance, or TA, program under sequestration. The amendment, S. Amdt. 72, was introduced by Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and championed by the VFW, American Legion and Student Veterans of America.

On Monday, VFW Commander-in-Chief John Hamilton sent an “all hands” call to VFW advocates in an effort to muster support for the Inhofe/Hagan amendment. On Monday afternoon, Senate debate over the continuing resolution stalled before the amendment could be considered, leading many on Capitol Hill to believe that hope for restoring TA through the continuing resolution was lost. Inhofe and Hagan quickly scrambled to introduce stand-alone legislation to reinstate TA through S. 614 and a House companion bill, H.R. 1265.

The Inhofe/Hagan amendment will require each military branch to continue operating their respective TA programs proportionate to the sequester. Currently, the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps have cut off TA enrollment entirely in an effort to generate greater savings through budget sequestration.

The other day we discussed LTC Jon Trainer and his Bronze Star Medal award ostensibly for a power point presentation. CarlS sends us a link to a blogger at Patriot Post who talks to the folks involved in the award;

Among Trainer’s responsibilities in Afghanistan, that PowerPoint was an insignificant contribution, except for the high-profile coverage of the Quran burnings, which put it and him in the crossfire. Fact is, Trainer should be recognized, first and foremost, for his “Ask, Care, Escort” suicide prevention curriculum for military personnel. According to his commander, Col. David Smith, Trainer “crafted outstanding programs on suicide prevention … which exponentially impacted tens of thousands of Service Members.”

His pastoral counseling was invaluable. “Chaplain Trainer served with me as my pastor, counselor, comrade and prayer warrior,” says Army LTC Todd Perkins. “He accepted my personal challenges as his priority and was always available to listen and counsel. His lessons, sermons and advice are a solid foundation for me to reference until and beyond the day that I return home to my family.”

To condemn LTC Jon Trainer personally because he was recommended for a Bronze Star for meritorious service in the conduct of his duties in a theater of war is odious. Trainer didn’t ask for the award, and given his clear Christian predisposition for humility, I am certain he never would have missed it.

Assassinating the character of a military chaplain — especially one who has served our country with integrity and has honored his oath “to Support and Defend” our Constitution — is inexcusable.

I don’t think anyone here assassinated his character, so to speak, in fact, I think we gave the good chaplain the benefit of the doubt. But, anyway there’s the rest of the story.

Lance Cooley and Jerry920 send us a link to an NBC story about an explosion in a Nevada training exercise in which initial reports are that seven Marines were killed and another seven injured;

There were conflicting reports about what happened. According to one account, a 60-millimeter mortar shell exploded in a tube as Marines were preparing to fire it. Another account said that the shell exploded as Marines were picking it up to load it.

[…]

Four Marines were killed instantly, military officials told NBC News. The two others died while waiting to be flown to the hospital.

A reminder that training for war is just as deadly as fighting the war.

Scores of you have sent me links over the past few days in regards to Capt. Peter Linnerooth, an Army psychiatrist who helped all of the soldiers he came in contact with, but couldn’t find the strength to help himself. I haven’t been ignoring you all, I just couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to say about it, but here’s a link from Fox News, discuss it among yourselves, since you all obviously want to;

Linnerooth did such a good job his Army comrades dubbed him The Wizard. His “magic” was deceptively simple: an instant rapport with soldiers, an empathetic manner, a big heart.

For a year during one of the bloodiest stretches of the Iraq war, Linnerooth met with soldiers 60 to 70 hours a week. Sometimes he’d hop on helicopters or join convoys, risking mortars and roadside bombs. Often, though, the soldiers came to his shoebox-sized “office” at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

[…]

He became a college professor in Minnesota, then counseled vets in California and Nevada. He’d done much to help the troops, but in his mind, it wasn’t enough. He worried about veteran suicides. He wrote about professional burnout. He grappled with PTSD, depression and anger, his despair spiraling into an overdose. He divorced and married again. He fought valiantly to get his life in order.

But he couldn’t make it happen.

As the new year dawned, Pete Linnerooth, Bronze Star recipient, admired Army captain, devoted father, turned his gun on himself.

I thought I’d follow-up regarding Jonn’s article from last week on the subject.  In case anyone was wondering:  there’s a good reason it will take until 2017 – or about 4 years from now – before those additional 14 interceptors for which the SECDEF recently announced deployment will be operational.

They’re silo-based.  We have to build the silos.  And we’re putting all of them in Alaska, which will complicate matters.

These interceptors – formally “Ground-Based Interceptors”, or GBIs – are big missiles. Each is about 55 feet long, over 4 feet in diameter, and heavy (14 tons).  While it’s technically possible to put something like that on a large TEL (transporter-erector-launcher), doing so is a pain; you’re only going to do that if you need them to be mobile.

Time constraints also make mobile deployment a problem.  You only have a short time to intercept a ballistic missile, so the interceptor needs to be essentially “combat ready” for immediate launch pretty much all the time.  That is difficult with something on a TEL

The new interceptors are being deployed to a rather harsh environment, too:  the vicinity of Fort Greely, Alaska.  They’ll definitely need protection from the elements.

Given all of the above, silo-basing is thus really about the only rational choice for these interceptors if we’re putting them in Alaska.

It takes a while to build silos and get them operational.  That’s particularly true at a place like Fort Greely that has a relatively short period of good outdoor weather each year.

Bottom line:  it’s going to take a substantial period of time to get all of that done.   Like about 4 years.

Four years ago was 2009.  And I seem to remember decisions made that year which cut back planned deployments of GBIs for the US West Coast and Alaska from 44 to a total of 30 – or what we currently have in-place today.

Hmmm.  Seems to me that if the current Administration hadn’t reduced planned deployments of GBIs four years ago we just might have those extra 14 missiles in place today.   And we also wouldn’t be jumping through hoops today trying to make that happen, either.

The Associated Press reports that the Defense department is sending 14 interceptors to the West Coast, ostensibly to beef up defenses against any froggy leaps by North Korea;

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel planned to announce the decision later Friday. It was first reported by Fox News.

In advance of Hagel’s announcement, defense officials confirmed the decision on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The Pentagon intends to add the 14 interceptors to 30 already in place in California and Alaska. That will expand the system’s ability to shoot down long-range missiles in flight before they could reach U.S. territory.

James Miller, defense undersecretary for policy, said in a speech Tuesday that the Pentagon has the ability to deploy up to 14 additional missile interceptors, “if needed.” He did not say in the speech that a decision had been made to do so.

Ya know what would be funny, if it wasn’t so fricken sad? For the last two or three Republican presidents, we had to hear how, with the Soviets gone, we didn’t need to worry about missile defense, that space-based defensive systems were useless in today’s environment. What? Are you worried about the North Koreans, or something? Ha-ha-ha. You wingnuts are still living in the Cold War era.

Now, who’s wringing their hands? What? You worried about the North Koreans?