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

Category: National Guard

  • Pentagon: Troops in Africa, families at home will be Ebola-safe

    From Stars & Stripes comes the news that the Pentagon doesn’t want you to worry that US troops fighting Ebola in Africa will contract or bring back the disease to their families;

    Troops returning from Ebola-stricken zones in Africa will be scrutinized twice — once by commanders and once by medical personnel — and those with high disease exposure risk will be quarantined for three weeks, according to a new Pentagon policy memo.

    The Oct. 10 memo from Jessica L. Wright, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, sets guidelines for pre-deployment training of Defense Department personnel, health monitoring while on deployment and requirements for returning troops and DOD civilians.

    Defense leaders have repeatedly promised that thousands of troops headed to Liberia in coming weeks to fight the outbreak won’t be in contact with Ebola patients.

    So, what they’re saying is that there’s no chance that the troops will contract the virus since they won’t be near Ebola patients, but we’re going to monitor them anyway. And that’s fine, but the government can’t keep two nurses in a hospital environment, so I think it’s pretty irresponsible of them to make promises they can’t keep. I’m sure they’ll do everything they can, but let’s be realistic here.

    NBC News reports that the President may issue an order to send National Guard units to Africa;

    The sources said that eight engineers and logistical specialists from the Guard, both active-duty and reservists, would probably be included in the first deployment. They are expected to help build 17 Ebola treatment centers, with 100 beds apiece. The sources said that no decision had been made.

    Defense Department officials said that the executive order was necessary to speed the deployments, and would allow the president to send additional forces as needed. Health officials have recorded more than 2,400 Ebola deaths in Liberia, the highest of any country.

    Yeah, the Pentagon told you folks in the Guard were to be expected to pull your load of deployments in the new force structure, so, there you go.

  • So, What Are They Saying in Montana?

    Wonder what they’re saying in Montana about Senator Walsh and his “unintentional mistake” of copying virtually verbatim around 25% of his War College final paper – including his conclusions – from other sources? As well as citing, but then lifting nearly word-for-word without indicating a direct quote, other sections? Well, let’s look:

    And even though it’s from Joliet, Illinois (Times Weekly) vice Montana, this editorial “gets it”:

     . . .

    So:  was cribbing that material instead of writing the paper yourself really worth it, Senator? “Oh, what a tangled web . . . . “

  • Maybe It’s Time for This Program to End

    The military services formerly sponsored auto racing as a recruiting tool.  In particular, they used to sponsor NASCAR racing.

    But in some years ago the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard all cut their ties with NASCAR.  Their sponsorship programs were expensive, and the services felt they simply weren’t getting sufficient benefit from the money spent to justify continuing the programs.

    For some reason, the National Guard didn’t.  They retained their NASCAR sponsorship program.

    The National Guard spent approximately $88 million from 2011 to 2013 to sponsor NASCAR teams.  An additional $38 million was spent to sponsor Indy car racing.

    So, how did that work out?

    Detailed numbers are available for 2012.  That year, the National Guard spend $26.5 on it’s NASCAR sponsorship.  From that, they got approximately 24,800 contacts who indicated the NASCAR connection prompted them to seek more information about signing up.

    Of those 24,800, how many even qualified to enlist?  20.

    None did.

    In 2013, the number of contacts showing NASCAR as what prompted them to inquire about enlisting dropped to about 7,500.

    The Army Times has an article with more details.

    Maybe it’s time to end this program and use the resources elsewhere.  It just doesn’t seem to be be working worth a damn.

  • Air National Guard saving the world

    Rebel Heart

    PintoNag sends a link to the dramatic story from NBC News which tells us about the rescue of a family attempting to circumnavigate the globe in their sailboat. The California Air National Guard sent a team of rescuers 800 miles off the Coast of Mexico to save the family;

    Members of the 129th Rescue Wing flew five hours Thursday from Moffett Federal Airfield, Calif., near San Jose, to the sailboat about 900 miles off the coast of Mexico on what the California National Guard called a “complex overwater rescue mission.”

    A parachute rescue team of four jumped into the ocean Thursday night, inflated a raft and boarded the 36-foot-long Rebel Heart, which is carrying Eric and Charlotte Kaufman of San Diego and their daughters, Cora, 3, and Lyra, 1, on the latest leg of what they’d planned to be a round-the-world voyage.

    Well, I’m glad they rescued the family, but I hope they appreciate that the team of four also put their own lives in danger to effect the rescue. And that the American taxpayers paid for it.

    They didn’t get very far before they needed to be rescued, apparently;

    Rebel heart's wild ride

  • The Economics of Veteran Unemployment

    Veteran unemployment rates are 9.2% for those serving after 9/11. That statistic is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics as of February 2014. Last year at the same time it was 9.4%. Comparatively, the unemployment rate for non-veterans is 6.9%, and was 7.9% the previous year. For veterans of other eras, their unemployment rate is 6.3% and was 6.9%.
    It is a startling statistic–as well as deeply disturbing. Why do our veterans leave the military, only to find themselves less employable than their civilian counterparts, especially our newest generation?
    The problem was glaringly obvious to me when I returned home from my third tour to Afghanistan and I found myself working at a food court serving pizza. I was happy for the opportunity and glad that someone was willing to hire me. I worked hard and tried to reduce the impact of my National Guard obligations on them as best I could–even if it was just a cashier position. But it burned. Six months prior I was managing repair and installation projects for cellular and data networks. I was a Staff Sergeant during my drill weekends, managing a platoon of combat medics, who supported a cavalry squadron. And then I took off my uniform, grabbed my visor and apron and always made sure to ask if the customer wanted a caesar salad with their order.
    My situation wasn’t unique, and it wasn’t until I connected two very important lessons that either the veterans need to accept or civilian employers need to educate themselves about. (Sadly, my guess is that capitalism will win and Veterans will need to accept their fate.) First, was when a friend, who had never served and had worked in the civilian market in an executive position, made this casually ignorant comment about military leadership. “Your experience doesn’t translate. You just tell your guys what to do and they do it. Things don’t work like that in the civilian world.”
    I wish. I wish it were that easy, but he didn’t know any better.
    Second, was when I was studying my Labor Economics textbook. It discussed the amount of experience that a person gains while working in a position, and how that experience makes them more valuable. This experience is only applicable to that position, however.
    That is the problem. That is the barrier that we can’t overcome: the combination of the belief that our experience doesn’t translate, and the simple fact that we don’t have experience in the civilian market. Many of our skills can be translated, but a civilian employer doesn’t know which ones. In addition, we are simply entry level employees in the eyes of those organizations seeking qualified applicants. There is no doubt that we have gained skills and experience, but rarely in the fields of employment we are attempting to gain access to, which is why so many of us must behave like someone freshly entering the market, with no job skills, because that is what we are–at least in the eyes of the hiring managers.
    The hard part for us is that we know we do have skills, the kind of skills that civilian employers are demanding. I can see it, as I push through college. I’m forced to take classes dedicated to speaking in front of a group, writing professional correspondence, and simply working in a team. That was three separate courses–summarized, two 100 level courses, and a 400 level course. Taking these courses, is to simply prove to my future civilian employer that I am capable of functioning and communicating in a professional environment. All of these were things I learned in the military: teaching classes to my peers and subordinates, briefing my superiors, and working in a team.
    Many of the issues have to do with our pride. Every veteran I know complains about attending college with these “kids.” It is a perfectly understandable frustration. We now operate under completely different frames of reference than most of America. Why should we have to stand in line with all these kids, people who didn’t serve, and be treated as their equals? We shouldn’t, but then again, in the eyes of the greater capitalist machine–those firms that would hire us–we are viewed simply for what production value we can offer. The hiring manager as a human being appreciates and perhaps, even sympathizes with our plight, but they have a job to do, and that job is to hire as many qualified applicants as they can for the lowest cost.
    To do this, they have pre-established requirements that an applicant must meet, simple easy to assess criteria to determine what our production value is to the hiring firm. Veterans are not easily assessed. We don’t have the same certifications, and our experience doesn’t translate well onto paper to fill in their check boxes. As a result, we aren’t hired.
    Why doesn’t the military simply support us with these civilian certifications? We do the same jobs right? Two reasons: cost and retention. Many certifications require training that goes beyond the scope of the job that the military requires of the veterans. Why would they train us, so that we could leave? Training is expensive, and it would be a waste of taxpayer money to train us then let us go. It sucks, but it is reality.
    So there we are: the veterans of foreign wars, combat proven individuals capable of thinking critically and performing under the kind of stress that the civilian market can’t reproduce. This, my generation of veterans, is the same experience as those veterans who came before us. But none of that matters. What we need to do is gain the credentials which the civilian market has established to ease the burden on their hiring managers. Then, once we have entered those positions, we, as human beings, can be evaluated more closely. Our productivity can be measured and our experience can be really put to the test against our civilian counterparts. That is where we will show the value of our experience and our productive capabilities.

  • PANG colonel facing fraud charges

    The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Pennsylvania National Guard Colonel Gerard Mangi has been charged with 110 counts of fraud related to creating a job for a friend who had financial problems, in exchange for padding Mangi’s own pay check;

    Mangis and Robert St. Clair, 50, a civilian contractor at the Air National Guard’s headquarters in Maryland, became friends in 2000. When financial problems in 2002 threatened St. Clair’s security clearance and his job, Mangis falsified enlistment papers and other documents to make St. Clair a Guard member assigned to the 171st Air Refueling Wing in Findlay, Hickton said.

    St. Clair was physically unfit to serve in the military and never showed for training or other duty because his lack of fitness and Maryland home would have “aroused suspicion among the members at the 171st,” the indictment states.

    Having the military position allowed St. Clair to keep his security clearance and receive military pay and benefits.

    In return, St. Clair used his job at headquarters to authorize Mangis to receive military pay for special training days and other “workdays,” often for the same days that Pennsylvania paid him as a full-time Guard employee, Hickton said.

    I’m thinking that O-5s need training so that they understand that it’s improper to create phony jobs for friends and claim work days that they didn’t actually work. I think a six-hour Power-Point presentation would probably cure the problem, you, know, like all of the problems that O-5s have created in their fiefdoms in the last ten years.

  • NYNG suspends four for casket humor

    Beretverde sends us a link from the Albany Times Union which reports that four New York National Guardsman have also been suspended from their duties for taking part in the group picture that caused such a stir in the last week – the picture that Specialist Terry Harrison posted to her Instagram account;

    Eric Durr, a spokesman for the New York State Division of Military Affairs in Latham, said the soldiers’ identities are being withheld because the investigation is in progress, which Durr said is standard procedure.

    “The recent discovery of a photograph of National Guard honor guard members displaying inappropriate behavior in what should be a solemn setting during training in Arkansas undermines the proud service and achievement of our 35 full-time and 135 part-time honor guard soldiers here in New York,” the New York Guard statement said Tuesday afternoon.

    “We all understand the solemn and serious nature of these ceremonies. Our members have performed this service with tremendous dignity and reverence since 1999 for more than 100,000 New York military families,” the statement said.

  • The IG Gets One Right – and Gets Ignored

    Improper endorsement of a non-Federal entity.  Use of government position for private gain.  Improper use of government resources.

    Those sound like fairly serious issues, IMO.

    Such were the findings of a 2010 DAIG Report of Investigation (ROI) concerning the then-Montana Adjutant General (and now Montana Lieutenant Governor), John Walsh.

    Walsh apparently had ambitions of being elected to national office within the National Guard Association of the US (NGAUS).  But Montana’s membership rate in the NGAUS was fairly low at the time.  So Walsh decided to do the following:

    • Pressure subordinates to join the NGAUS and the Enlisted NGAUS (ENGAUS).
    • Tell his subordinates to make the NGAUS and ENGAUS priorities and that supporting these organizations was a “readiness concern”.
    • Use Federal resources to do the above.
    • Use his staff to perform administrative duties related to the NGAUS.

    Walsh’s justification for doing this?  He “interpreted the rules to determine that he was not a DOD employee” and because it “was my time and my own resources in a lot of cases”.

    Um, Walsh?  Horsedung.  Even if you were ARNG vice RA or USAR, there’s these little matters called “Federal recognition” and “Joint Ethics Regulations”.  You were using Federal resources (official DoD e-mail and DoD-funded staff) in violation of law and regulation.  The NGAUS and ENGAUS are not Federal entities, so the Joint Ethics Regulations – which are binding on ARNG personnel as well – forbid both endorsement of and encouragement/coercion of subordinates regarding joining non-Federal organizations.

    And doing this just so you could “get ahead” in the NGAUS politically?  That’s pretty damn low in my book.

    All of that is also outside the scope of your official duties at the time – Montana AG.  So there’s also the question in my mind of whether or not you were neglecting your primary duties while pulling this stunt.

    No, the dollar amounts weren’t large, and the conduct here wasn’t as egregiously bad as some we’ve seen.  But the behavior is still completely unacceptable in any senior military official.

    His boss at the time didn’t seem to mind, though.  Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer says he trashed the DAIG ROI when he received it because it was ““a completely partisan end-run in the National Guard attempting to embarrass him (Walsh).”  Walsh received no punishment for his wrongdoing.

    Oh, really?  Well, here’s the redacted DAIG ROI concerning the matter.  It’s short (9 pages), direct, and to the point.  Read it for yourself and see if it sounds like a “partisan hit-piece” to you.  It certainly doesn’t to me.

    Walsh is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Baucus this year.  Sounds to me like he’ll fit right in in DC – if he’s elected, of course.

    Hopefully the good voters of Montana place a bit more value than Walsh does on ethics and integrity, and he never finds out just how well he’d fit in.