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

Category: Military issues

  • Panetta throws open doors to combat for women

    The LA Times reports that, on his way out his own door, Leon Panetta opened the door for women to serve in combat-related jobs.

    The groundbreaking move recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta’s decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.

    A senior military official says the services will develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions. Some jobs may open as soon as this year. Assessments for others, such as special operations forces, including Navy SEALS and the Army’s Delta Force, may take longer.

    Yeah, well, whatever. If history has taught anything, the services had better keep the standards for combat jobs regardless of sex. As I’ve always said, the bullet isn’t forgiving and doesn’t discriminate. I’ve also said that I’ve known women who could handle the job, but they’re not all suited for it – I’ve known men who weren’t suited for the job. I see lots of women on Facebook celebrating this ill-considered decision, but none of them are currently in the military. If we’re doing this to make the military better, fine, but if we’re doing it just to beat our collective chest and show how just we are, then that’s how a lot of body bags are going to get filled.

    I’ve never subscribed to the theory that women in combat will distract from the job being done, but rather I’ve opposed this because the sociologists will force square pegs into the round holes, with a hammer, if needed. But, I’m sure between allowing the gays to serve openly and allowing women into combat jobs, the recruiters must be amazed at the target-rich environments in which they’re operating. Yeah, that’s sarcasm.

    Thanks to everyone who filled my inbox with the news while I was typing this.

  • Congress Gets One Right

    This story has gotten some publicity elsewhere.  But  I haven’t seen an update on TAH since Jonn’s original article, so I thought I’d do one.

    Apparently a key Senate committee recently refused to recommend approval for one Navy Reserve Captain recommended for promotion to RDML.  The guy they’re”blackballing” is a former naval aviator – with a confirmed air-to-air kill!  The nomination was returned to the White House without action, effectively killing it unless the POTUS chooses to nominate the individual a second time.

    Personally, I’m OK with that.  The air-to-air kill occurred in September 1987, during a training exercise.  And the jet he downed – a RF-4C – happened to belong to the USAF.

    (more…)

  • Mattis leaving early?

    Several of you sent me links to the news that General James Mattis may be taking leave of his duties as commander of Central Command at the request of the President, or his functionaries. Thomas Ricks broke the news in his column at Foreign Policy.

    Why the hurry? Pentagon insiders say that he rubbed civilian officials the wrong way — not because he went all “mad dog,” which is his public image, and the view at the White House, but rather because he pushed the civilians so hard on considering the second- and third-order consequences of military action against Iran. Some of those questions apparently were uncomfortable. Like, what do you do with Iran once the nuclear issue is resolved and it remains a foe? What do you do if Iran then develops conventional capabilities that could make it hazardous for U.S. Navy ships to operate in the Persian Gulf? He kept saying, “And then what?”

    It’s no secret that General Mattis is popular among his troops. I’ve also heard that he’s an occasional fan of The Duffel Blog. But it looks like his outspoken criticism of the way the US is handling their foreign policy will be his undoing. He is known for saying things like “…no war is over until the enemy says it’s over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote…” and “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.”

    Ricks says about Mattis; ” I’d call him a tough-minded realist, someone who’d rather have tea with you than shoot you, but is happy to end the conversation either way.” Lord knows we can’t have a general who think that war-fighting is part of his job.

    It’s going to be a long four years.

  • Hostage situation in Algeria ends badly

    There’s not a lot of information coming out Algeria on the hostage situation there which involved several US citizens. Al Qaeda terrorists were holding the hostages at a LP gas facility in the Algerian desert. And apparently when they tried to take the hostages into Libya, the Algerian “special forces” struck the group indiscriminately. From the Washington Times;

    Algerian officials said their troops and helicopter gunships stormed the gas facility where Islamic extremists were holding foreign hostages, including several Americans, when the terrorists tried to leave plant with their captives.

    An unknown number of hostages were killed in the military assault, according to various accounts.

    Algerian state media said four foreign hostages had been freed in the raid and at least one of them, Michael McFaul, a Briton from West Belfast, was able to speak by telephone to his family.

    There’s a difference between special forces troops in the US and those in the third world. In the third world, they mean people who will kill anyone anytime in the most brutal way available. They’re usually not trained well, except in firepower. NBC broadcast news is reporting that only two Americans survived the attack by Algerian forces, but information is sketchy.

    As we ramp up our participation in Africa, I hope the generals, who have recently forgotten every lesson they ever learned, keep this incident in mind when planning for security for the troops there. Other nations won’t protect Americans in the same way that Americans will protect Americans. Another example would be the “Black Hawk Down” incident wherein, US troops were dependent on Pakistani armor to evacuate them from the firefight.

    While it’s commendable that the US is letting France lead in Mali, we shouldn’t hitch our little red wagon to them there, because we’re going to be disappointed with the outcome.

  • Terry Achane’s reunion with daughter put on hold.

    About a month ago Jonn posted about the Terry Achane ongoing legal battle for the custody of his two year old daughter. Today was suppose to be the day that Father and daughter would be reunited. But this has been canceled due to a stay from the Utah Supreme Judge.

    The Utah Supreme Court today put a temporary hold on a trial judge’s orders to return a little girl to her soldier father after she was given up for adoption without his consent two years ago.

    The Salt Lake Tribune posted the reason for the stay in the following statement.

    The high court said the provisional stay on the petition for emergency relief filed by the adoptive parents would give it “the time necessary to adjudicate the request for emergency relief,” but did not indicate how long that might take.

    “It could be a day or two, it could be a week,” Wiser said.

    This happened eleven days after the presiding Utah Judge refused to stay his judgement. I was wanting that this have a better outcome, but the sliver lining is that the process is not over. You can follow this story on Terry’s Facebook support page.

  • Somebody’s Got Some ‘Splainin’ to Do . . . Again

    This time, it’s be the captain and some of the crew of the USS Jacksonville, an SSN (nuclear attack sub) who need to do a bit of ” ‘splainin’ “.  Seems the USS Jacksonville ran into something in the Persian Gulf the other day, sustaining minor damage.

    Thankfully the collision was apparently a minor “brush”.  The other vessel – believed to have been a fishing trawler – did not stop, did not indicate distress, and indeed did not even indicate it even realized there had been a mishap.  The USS Jacksonville, however, lost one of its periscopes – which was sheared off during the collision.

    The collision occurred at 5AM local, just after the USS Jacksonville had passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

    There were no reported deaths or injuries.  But I’d guess several careers may well end up casualties.

    If you’re thinking this sounds kinda familiar, it should.  This is the second collision in the Persian Gulf between a US warship and a merchant vessel in the last five months.

  • Panetta & Dempsey: no US troops in Syria

    The Washington Times‘ Kristina Wong reports that Secretary of Defense leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Martin Dempsey told reporters that the US isn’t planning to put boots on the ground in Syria, especially if chemical weapons are used against the rebels there;

    “We’re not working on options that involve boots on the ground,” Mr. Panetta said at a Pentagon briefing. “I think you always have to keep the possibility that, if there is a peaceful transition and international organizations get involved, that they might ask for assistance in that situation. But in a hostile situation, we’re not planning for that.”

    He said the greater challenge is deciding what steps the international community can take to ensure those weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.

    “That is a discussion that we are having, not only with the Israelis but with other countries in the region, to try to look at, you know, what steps need to be taken in order to make sure that these sites are secured and that they don’t wind up in the wrong hands,” Mr. Panetta said.

    Yeah, it sounds like a bunch of jibber-jabber to me, too. I’m so sure that whoever ends up in charge of Syria is going to allow Israeli troops into the country. The quotes from Dempsey are just as unintelligible. It doesn’t explain why they said they’d need 75,000 troops in Syria – certainly there’s been planning, if they arrived at that number back in November.

  • Gay News

    Two links today in regards to the recent repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. In one sent by Parachute Cutie,; the Department of Defense is paying an average of $14,000/per to folks who were booted out of the military for not following the simple restrictions of DADT says Associated Press;

    The federal government has agreed to pay $2.4 million to dozens of gay troops who were discharged and denied full separation pay under the pre-2011 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, according to a new court settlement.

    The class-action lawsuit was spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in 2010 on behalf of about 181 gay troops who were honorably discharged for violating the military’s ban on gays serving openly in uniform.

    I don’t remember the rum-runners getting forgiven for plying their illicit trade after Prohibition ended. All they had to do was keep their mouths shut about their particular sexual preference, and they couldn’t…now they get to cash in on it.

    Jerry920 sends the news that the Marines have decided that same sex couples should be able to join the spouses groups, says NBC;

    NBC News reported Dec. 14 that Ashley Broadway, the newlywed wife of Lt. Col. Heather Mack, was blocked from joining the spouses club at Fort Bragg, N.C., sparking accusations from a national military spouses organization that Broadway was being blackballed only because she is a lesbian.

    The Marine memo, issued Tuesday, described the Fort Bragg club’s stance as having “caused quite a stir” and added, “We do not want a story like this developing in our backyard,” confirmed Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine Corps spokesman.

    I’m sure that’s a good way to destroy the spouses’ clubs and support groups. Folks will probably pull stakes and leave the groups…I’m just saying.