If six months ago I had told you that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders would be leading in their respective parties in the run-up to the primaries, you would have laughed me out of the blogging business. But look. So how much more bizarre can it get?
Well, the other day, Jimmy Janos tells us that he likes Trump (no surprise there – birds of a feather….) and he’s “open” to an offer to be his vice president – that would be frosting on the Trump cake, so to speak. Ventura is also trying to sink the Bush campaign by claiming that the Florida governor once sent him a box of Cuban cigars, in violation of the embargo.
Need more bizarre? OK, we read this morning that Manbearpig Gore is contemplating a run next year, too. He’s been a punchline for half of every internet joke for the last 15 years, but he think that gives him the name recognition to have a chance at the presidency, I guess.
The punchline for the other half of internet jokes, Joe Biden, is trying to tempt us to vote for him by promising us only one term as president if we will select him. Yeah, one-term…I believe that.
Phony Vietnam War fighter pilot, Tom Harkin, who retired from politics recently, thinks that he has the horsepower to revive Chinese spy Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Iowa.
Luckily, John Kerry is too busy opening an embassy in Havana, or he’d be tossing his botoxed visage into the mix, too, completing our time travel back to the last decade complete.
You’d think that bunch of clowns like the Democrats have fielded would help any Republican cruise to an easy victory, but, the Republican Party, as a whole, has so poisoned the electorate against them with their Democrat-like behavior every time they get a chance to change the direction of the country, I don’t think any of them have a chance either.
I think it’s a foregone conclusion that, unless the Democrats are all caught eating live puppies and kittens at the convention next year, our next president will be a Democrat. And that doesn’t bode well for the military or for veterans.
Navy File Photo: Washington, D.C. (March 4, 1976) – President of the United States of America, Gerald R. Ford, (back to camera) presents the Congressional Medal of Honor to Rear Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN, during an awards ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Rear Admiral Stockdale earned the nation’s highest decoration for his leadership as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam from 9 Sept. 1965 to 12 Feb. 1973. U.S. Navy Photo by Dave Wilson (RELEASED)
I don’t know if this guy is honestly this dumb, this insane, or crafty enough to have written a piece of drek so stupid that people can’t help but click and read it. My assumption is the third, that he said something provocative and asinine in order to get people to click and read it. Unfortunately, it’s going to work this time, because it truly is so reprehensible and sophomoric that it almost begs me to discuss it.
So let us begin with the Magnum Opus of the venerable Rick Perlstein, obviously the predicted Ubermensch of Frederich Neitzsche:
You know that racist flag? The one that supposedly honors history but actually spreads a pernicious myth? And is useful only to venal right-wing politicians who wish to exploit hatred by calling it heritage? It’s past time to pull it down.
Oh, wait. You thought I was referring to the Confederate flag. Actually, I’m talking about the POW/MIA flag.
Ah yes, that symbol of hatred, malice and racism. Tell me more Rick, I stand ready to suckle at your overflowing teat of wisdom…
Then the war ended, the POWs (yes, all the POWs) were repatriated to great fanfare, one of them declaring: “I want you to remember that we walked out of Hanoi as winners”—a declaration that seemed to suggest, almost, that by surviving, the POWs had won the Vietnam War.
The moral confusion was abetted by the flag: the barbed-wire misery of that stark white figure, emblazoned in black.
It memorializes Americans as the preeminent victims of the Vietnam War, a notion seared into the nation’s visual unconscious by the Oscar-nominated 1978 film The Deer Hunter, which depicts acts of sadism, which were documented to have been carried out by our South Vietnamese allies, as acts committed by our North Vietnamese enemies, including the famous scene pictured on The Deer Hunter poster: a pistol pointed at the American prisoner’s head at exactly the same angle of the gun in the famous photograph of the summary execution in the middle of the street of an alleged Communist spy by a South Vietnamese official.
Wait, you’re referencing a movie to make a point? Why not Red Dawn? Or perhaps Soylent Green, or even Apocalypse Now. I’m not exactly sure how one scores a war, but for my own part, coming home, getting married and having a daughter was “winning” it as far as I was concerned. War isn’t played on a gridiron with rules dictating the proper pounds per square inch of the ball, it’s never truly “won” or “lost”; only fought. Even if the objectives set forth are met, lives are lost, dreams are shattered, and the “victors” pay a price with every night they wake up sweating and fearing for his fellow man. For a POW, yeah, coming home was winning.
This exemplar of imbecilic logical yoga then goes on to bash one of my personal heroes, Admiral James Stockdale.
Actually, as I document in The Invisible Bridge, it’s more complicated than that: many of the prisoners were anti-war activists. One member of the “Peace Committee” within the POW camps, Abel Larry Kavanaugh, was harassed into suicide after his return to the U.S. by the likes of Admiral James Stockdale, who tried to get Peace Committee members hanged for treason.
Stockdale would become one of the nation’s most celebrated former POWs and a vice-presidential candidate. Kavanaugh took his life in his father in law’s basement in Commerce City, Colorado, in June 1973. Americans would agree that one of them—Stockdale or Kavanaugh—is not a hero—though they would disagree about which one is which.
That damned flag: It’s a shroud. It smothers the complexity, the reality, of what really happened in Vietnam.
We’ve come to our senses about that other banner of lies. It’s time to do the same with this.
First off, I love how he keeps citing to previous works of his. That’s generally speaking a sign that the person believes they speak with some sort of absolute authority on the subject. If there is an audio version of this book available, I’d like to get it, and if it could be read by Gilbert Gottfried or Vizzini from The Princess Bride, so much the better.
Second, I can’t tell you how much I would love to take Rick Perlstein to the Montagnard Village in Ashboro, North Carolina that I visited a few years ago. The Montagnards were mountain people of Vietnam who joined with Special Forces units to try to save South Vietnam. When we left the country they were hunted down and exterminated, save for some that the SF guys were able to get into the United States. The extraordinary efforts to save those people by American Soldiers belies the idiotic “racism” notion of Rick. These Montagnards weren’t “other” people, they were brothers to our Special Forces Operators, who did everything in their power to save them after the war. The racism charge is the crockedest arrow in the quiver, as should be obvious by looking at how the US takes in refugees of all races, colors, creeds and religions on a regular basis when they are targeting for extinction by a totalitarian regime.
But let’s turn to Admiral Stockdale (pictured above receiving his Medal of Honor). While he will likely always be remembered as a POW and as the Vice Presidential candidate who turned off his hearing aids during the debate to avoid having to listen to Quayle and Gore, to me he was the President of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, my alma mater.
Honor is just a word to some people, and for people like Perlstein, it is either used incorrectly or ironically. If you want to see honor, read the Medal of Honor citation for Admiral Stockdale.
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while senior naval officer in the Prisoner of War camps of North Vietnam. Recognized by his captors as the leader in the Prisoners’ of War resistance to interrogation and in their refusal to participate in propaganda exploitation, Rear Adm. Stockdale was singled out for interrogation and attendant torture after he was detected in a covert communications attempt. Sensing the start of another purge, and aware that his earlier efforts at self-disfiguration to dissuade his captors from exploiting him for propaganda purposes had resulted in cruel and agonizing punishment, Rear Adm. Stockdale resolved to make himself a symbol of resistance regardless of personal sacrifice. He deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate. He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture toward all of the Prisoners of War. By his heroic action, at great peril to himself, he earned the everlasting gratitude of his fellow prisoners and of his country. Rear Adm. Stockdale’s valiant leadership and extraordinary courage in a hostile environment sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
The man was so concerned that he would be used in propaganda against the country that he loved that he smashed his own face with a stool. That’s honor. That’s bravery. That’s patriotism.
At Legion events we have a POW/MIA ceremony, which ends with the following:
The chair is empty. They are NOT here. The candle is reminiscent of the light of hope, which lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from their captors, to the open arms of a grateful nation. The American flag reminds us that many of them may never return – and have paid the supreme sacrifice to insure our freedom. Let us pray to the Supreme Commander that all of our comrades will soon be back within our ranks. Let us remember – and never forget their sacrifice. May God forever watch over them and protect them and their families.
When I hear those words, I feel a lump in my throat, and a hole in my heart. And when I read the reports of our comrades remains being found and repatriated, I stop to thank the Almighty that their families can now get some closure. And when I see that flag, I think about all of those still missing, lying there waiting for friends and family to locate them,
Apparently Rick Perlstein sees racism. I can’t even really muster any anger for Rick, he has nothing but sympathy from me. Because he’ll never know the fraternal love that comes from standing shoulder to shoulder with men and women who were willing to lay their lives down for something greater than themselves.
Rick would rather sell his soul for a few clicks and maybe some extra advertising revenue.
[UPDATE: so right after I wrote this up, the writer and editor printed an “apology”. They should have just remained silent, as any good lawyer would tell an idiot who is a client. The apology is almost as insulting as the original piece, but I add it here for sake of clarity:
A Writer’s Apology
I sincerely regret the use of the word “racist” to describe how the POW/MIA flag distorts the history of the Vietnam War. The word was over the top and not called for.
I’m deeply sorry it hurt people—especially people who’ve selflessly served their country. Most of all, I’m sorry because many of the people offended by the word “racist” are the same people who were hurt when the experiences and feelings of common soldiers and veterans were manipulated to serve the powerful interests and individuals who blithely and perennially send men and women to war, then don’t take care of them when they return home. And, of course, I regret the pain caused to the families of those who gave the last full measure of devotion to their country in Southeast Asia.
I would ask the people I angered to consider carefully reading the article, which explains, for example, that the Chinese Communists cynically leaked lies about the existence of live POWs in the years after the war in order to harm their rival Vietnam.
Most of all, I wish to express my regrets. Other than that, I stand by my article. —Rick Perlstein
The Editor’s Response
We published Rick Perlstein’s article on the POW/MIA flag, because it insightfully examines the cynical manipulation of public opinion at the expense of the downed pilots and foot soldiers the creators of the MIA movement claimed to represent. Perlstein is an accomplished historian who has spent years researching the Nixon and Reagan years. He knows this material. Our prolonged national discussion of the tragic Southeast Asian war that extended beyond Vietnam is often framed in what can be reasonably described as racist terms. The defenders of an Asian country that was invaded, bombed, defoliated and savaged (see: Kill Anything that Moves by Nick Turse) are vilified, while the invaders are beatified. Neither position is correct or fair. It was a persistent yet perhaps understandable disregard for the “other” victims of a war, beyond our own nation’s tragic losses, that informed the piece.
Nowhere is it suggested, nor do we imply, that individuals who remain devoted to the POW/MIA flag are racist. And it was neither Mr. Perlstein’s intent, nor ours, to dishonor those who served in Vietnam, although based on comments of readers, many were offended. A more careful editor would have moved the term “racist” lower in the body of the story and kept it out of the headline, where it was an unintended red flag that provoked the understandable ire of many readers. —Lou Dubose
Short Perlstein apology: Sorry not sorry, and all you rubes who were upset by my original piece are still rubes.
Shorter Editor’s Response: We’re sorry we said it so early in the piece, but frankly we appreciate the clicks and our revenue is way up thanks to you angry people.
Every unit in the military has a moment they are known for, several have many moments they were known for. My unit, the 29th Infantry Division will always be remembered for storming the beaches at Normandy. We were also the first National Guard unit that was combat arms called up for Bosnia, and we did rotations of both Iraq and Afghanistan. I was lucky enough to join the unit in Afghanistan, and for the second half of that deployment we were actually assigned to the 173rd Airborne. At the time, we were less than excited about that prospect, because if one of our squads got hit by an enemy about 5 times our strength, the 173rd policy was to hold the enemy in place, and they’d come out and take care of the rest. Not always the most encouraging thing you can hear over the radio when rounds are flying by you.
But the 173rd lives up to their reputation. Originally actived in WWI, the unit deployed to France but didn’t see any action. During WWII they were assigned to George Patton’s 3rd Army where they saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and at the Rhine River Crossing.
After WWII it was deactivated and reactivated several times until Vietnam, when the Brigade was the first Army unit sent to the republic of South Vietnam in May 1965. As their website makes clear:
In the combat operations to follow, the paratroopers made their superb training payoff. They were the first to go into “War Zone D” to destroy enemy base camps. They introduce small, long range patrols. The fought the battles of the iron triangle, conducted the only major combat parachute jump in the Tay Ninh Area, and blocked NVA incursions during the bloodiest fighting of the war at “Dak To” during the summer and fall of 1967, culminating in the capture of “Hill 875”. Elements of the Brigade conducted an amphibious assault against NVA and VC forces as part of an operation to clear the rice growing lowlands along the “Bong Song” Littoral.
The Troopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade wear their combat badges and decorations with pride. During more than six years of nearly continuous combat in Vietnam, The brigade earned four unit citations, had 13 Medal of Honor winners, had over 130 distinguished service crosses winners. 1731** Sky Soldiers were killed in action and another 8,345 were wounded in action. These 10,076 casualties incurred by the Brigade were five times greater then the 187th Airborne Regiment in Korea, fourtimes greater than those suffered by the 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific in WWII, more than twice those suffered by the 101st Airborne Division in Europe in WWII, and two thirds of those suffered by the entire 82nd Airborne Division in WWII. The Brigade took part in 14 designated campaigns and conducted the only U.S. line combat parachute assault of the Vietnam war. The Brigade was Deactivated on 14 January 1972 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
In 2000 the unit was activated again in Vincenza Italy, and a year later, with the start of the War on Terror would begin a new legacy of heroism.
I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to know quite well the three 173rd paratroopers who have received the Medal of Honor during the War on Terror: Sal Giunta, Kyle White and Ryan Pitts. Ryan and I spent a week together riding in the mountains of Montana on horseback, with a friend of his (and Silver Star recipient named Mike Denton.) Ryan, Mike, our Legislative Director Ian DePlanque and I shared a cabin together for the week, and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much as we did that week. This is well before Ryan would receive his Medal of Honor, so I just knew him as Ryan, and we bonded over a host of subjects, including our love of all New England Sports teams. If I had to spend time with just one of them, it would likely be Ryan, if only because if it were Sal my liver would quit on me after about four days, and Kyle is just as talkative as I am, which is to say not at all.
If you’ve never seen our video on Ryan, you should:
(Ryan and Me)
Likewise, I am one of Sal Giunta’s biggest fans. But as I said in a Facebook page this weekend, “Sal Giunta is the most exhausting person on the planet. Dude uses more words in 20 mins than I use in 3 weeks.” He’s also one of the most entertaining people I’ve ever met. I could listen to him talk about deciduous trees for 10 minutes. Actually, I did listen to him talk about them twice this weekend. I was lucky enough to interview him as well a few years ago.
(Sal Giunta holding court.)
So anyway, this weekend I was invited to take part in the 173rd’s annual (hopefully) golf tournament. Sal and Ryan were there with the 3rd recipient, Kyle White. I got to know Kyle a little bit last year when he gave out our Spirit of Service award at the convention, which you can watch here:
Anyway, the tournament was Monday, and Sunday night was a reception at a local house where Ryan married his beautiful wife Amy. I got to talking to Kyle a bit more, and while he’s not the chatty cathy that Sal is, his sense of humor is awesome. Somehow out of the discussion we decided that Kyle, myself and Jedda, a 173rd guy who I had met YEARS ago when he was at Walter Reed would go out and do a practice round in the morning before the regular tournament. Glad I did because it gave me a better chance to meet Kyle.
Sometimes it’s hard on these guys to receive the Medal. People wanting their pictures and autographs, which they are happy to give, but often times they feel “why me?” But even I succomb to the feeling of pride being near these guys, and I get to see them fairly often. So the Golf Tournament was a way to let the public at large get to meet them as well.
We played at the Manchester Country Club in Manchester, NH. Thankfully it was a scramble, and both of the guys that Jedda and I were attached to were awesome. We did use a few of our shots, but one of our guys sank two 30 foot putts that helped us salvage a -2 on the day. Of course one team fired up an 11 under par, so we were kind of out after about hole #3. Which was fine with us.
All told the event raised over $20,000 for the 173rd Foundation, and 81 golfers took part. Not bad for a start to this event. Eric Hitchcock, the 173rd President spoke briefly afterward, thanking everyone for contributing time and money. Ryan talked about how the money would help the injured paratroopers (he himself went through Landstuhl and Walter Reed, and got much of his clothes from the 173rd foundation.) Kyle attended college after the Army using the GI Bill and funds provided by the 173rd, and now works in the financial sector. Sal talked about the Gold Star parents and mothers who were present, or who would benefit from the largesse raised during the event.
Golf tournaments are a great way to raise money for charity, and certainly this one was no exception. It takes a lot of work to put one on, but the $20,000+ raised will benefit future sky soldiers. My thanks to the 173rd Foundation for allowing me the opportunity to attend, see some old friends, and meet new ones.
I checked my list to see if there were any republicans not running for president. All I could find was Mitford and the Maverick. Losers who never figured out they were in a street fight. People are taking to Trump for that reason. Americans want someone to fight for them. Whether he believes or means what he says is another issue, but it puts on the appearance of attacking what is wrong in America. The eventual candidate should be taking notes. Pussyfoot around and you too will get the snot kicked out of you by a communist in a pants suit. Unless the FBI probe is real.
On one end of the District of Columbia sits the Rainbow house. On the other end on a little knoll, called a hill, sits Mordor. The people populating these fortifications run Babylon on the Potomac. No longer do they and not for a long time have they represented the people of the many states comprising this union. They prefer serfdom or to completely ignore the fact that there is even a population beyond the boundaries of Babylon. It is pay for play corruption at its worst. The irony of it all is that Donald Trump and people like him played and paid for politicians in our country just like he did in other countries all the way up to achieving billionaire status. Now, the shark is attacking the other sharks? He needs to explain to me how he would be different from the status quo, especially when he has been part of it, an enabler of it, and a benefactor of it. If his arrogance pushes him to run as a third party candidate, he will place another corrupt communist in the Rainbow house. Maybe we could just go ahead and paint the people’s house solid red by then. Do you reckon that’s what Slick Willie called him about? Nah, Willie was grubbing for more cash for the foundation or any available super model, or intern, or….
I really do not take much from gang debates. When it is whittled down to a few, I will become more interested.
The Unplanned Parenthood shop of horrors videos continue. Now they are setting the price for intact babies. Before they described how they took care not to crush the valuable parts. So if they have intact babies for sale, does not that imply a live birth? How can we not stand against such an atrocity? How could the Senate not even consider a funding vote? Like Mr. Trump said. I gave them money and when I needed them they were there. Answer. Just follow the money.
Did you hear Louis Farrakhan? He wants his Army of 10,000 to stalk whites and kill them. Do you recall? That Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his church gave Farrakhan a lifetime achievement award. The minister for the residents of the Rainbow house is a great admirer of Farrakhan. The same Farrakhan who implied Obama was the messiah. I doubt the Department of Justice will send the FBI over to visit him. Now if he had been holding a Confederate flag when he said that, all hell undoubtedly would have broken loose.
How about Genghis John and the Iran (new name for Hanoi) deal. I am just waiting for him to swoop down and report for duty. He can hold up his Nobel Prize for securing a deal with the people who have as their top priorities destruction of Israel and America. And with that he can save the party and America. Especially after the Rainbow house’s Department of Justice files criminal charges against the woman in the pants suits. If this was written into a movie script no one would watch it unless they called it dumb and dumber goes to Tehran. But, if it does not work out for him he can always say he was for it before he was against it and in a fit of rage he can throw Obama’s prize over the Rainbow house fence.
Just another uneventful week in the Enchanted Kingdom. I wished I had the imagination to make this stuff up. Can someone explain why my spell checker keeps trying to change Obama to Osama?
Bobo sends us a link to the Washington Post Which tells the story of how the Feds broke up an anti-Jade Helm 15 plot, referring to the training exercise now being conducted in the Southwestern part of the country. The plotters, Walter Eugene Litteral, Christopher Todd Campbell, and Christopher James Barker, were all from North Carolina, you know, where the Special Forces conduct the Robin Sage exercise.
The three were heavily armed with legally- and illegally-obtained weapons according to the Post, but your mileage may vary in regards to adjectives the Post uses.
Anyway, one of the fellows, Barker, is a convicted felon and they tried to buy him a gun, which the FBI blocked.
There were plans, the documents allege, to make pipe bombs, explosive tennis balls covered in nails and coffee cans filled with ball bearings that would be detonated with a shot from a sniper rifle.
[…]
The documents indicated that Litteral told another person in a phone conversation: “I got a f—— .45 beside my bed. I got a .45 and a 9-mil in my truck. I’ve got a 9-mil and a .380, or a .380 in her car. Safe full of weapons. You know what? Every time I open up this damn safe, I mean I’ve got, I’ve got at least 30 weapons that I can see and some tucked all the way in the back back.”
Yeah, they were asking to be busted. their whole plan revolved around them being able to lure the troops onto their property and into a trap where they would have scads of booby traps and pre-plotted kill zones. I’m sure the professional soldiers would fall for it.
In addition to ammunition for a long-range .338 caliber rifle, the authorities said Litteral purchased hand-held radios, Kevlar helmets, body armor and face masks in preparation for an armed resistance to the feared military occupation.
I certainly hope that having .338 ammo and hand-held radios doesn’t make someone suspected of terrorist activities.
I’m pretty sure that this will all be used to bolster the insanity that comes from Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Watch which says that the right wing nutjobs are the real terrorist threat in this country. These guys were just three boobs with some guns. One without any guns. They were a bigger danger to themselves than anyone else.
Jonn recently wrote an article about Senator Lindsey Graham’s military service, and how the WaPo was questioning same.
Ever since, there seems to have be a bit of confusion about Senator Lindsey Graham’s military career. In particular, his service has raised a number of questions here – and has garnered a rather large amount of negative comment.
I was curious, so I decided to research the situation. Time to kick the anthill; here are the facts.
1. Wikipedia – which I’ll trust in this case to be correct – says Graham graduated from law school in 1981. He received a USAF commission in 1982. He served on active duty as a USAF JAG from 1982-1989, including 4 years in Germany. He then served in the SC ANG from 1989-1995; and in the USAFR from 1995 until his retirement from the USAFR earlier this year.
2. Graham has been a member of Congress continuously since 1995.
3. DoDD 1200.07, defines the term “key employee”. Further, para E2.1.4.1, specifies that a Member of Congress is by DoD policy designated a “key employee” of the Federal government.
4. DoDD 1200.07 also defines the members of the Standby Reserve, as follows (para E2.1.9):
The Standby Reserve consists of personnel who are maintaining their military affiliation without being in the Ready Reserve, but have been designated “key civilian employees,” or have a temporary hardship or disability. Those individuals are not required to perform training and are not part of the Ready Reserve. The Standby Reserve is a pool of trained individuals who may be mobilized as needed to fill manpower needs in specific skills. The Standby Reserve consists of the active status list and the inactive status list categories.
5. DoDI 1200.15, para 5.1.3, mandates that “key employees” who are members of the Reserve Components be transferred to the Standby Reserve. DoD 1200.07 further specifies that such individuals will be placed on the Standby Reserve – Active Status List (SR-ASL).
6. DoDD 1235.09 describes organization and management of the Standby Reserve. In particular, para 2.b. states that individuals on the SR-ASL may participate in military activities in both active duty and inactive status, but also appears to specify that any such service will be for “points only” – e.g., without pay and allowances.
7. Finally, 10 USC 12306 appears to allow individuals on the SR-ASL to request to serve temporarily on active duty in an imminent danger zone. With the approval of their Service Secretary, they may receive orders to do so.
The Standby Reserve and how it works (and what it does) is not something that’s exactly common knowledge. I’d run across it some years ago, and remembered it existed and had something to do with key personnel. But I didn’t really know much about it (or had forgotten the pertinent details) until I looked it up again in connection with this flap. If you’re curious about the Standby Reserve, this article from the US Army Human Resources Command gives a pretty good overview. I’m reasonably certain that all services handle their SR-ASL reasonably similarly, so it should be pertinent to any RC element.
. . .
So, to recap: Graham has been a member of Congress since 1995. He was an ANG officer – with 12+ years TIS, probably a Major – when he entered Congress. When he was sworn in as a Member of Congress, DoD policy allowed him to retain his commission (and transfer to the USAFR) – but required him to be placed in the Standby Reserve.
Regardless of what you think about Congress, serving as a Member of Congress is definitely a full-time job. (If you doubt that, find a copy of P. J. O’Rourke’s book Parliament of Whores and read the chapter where he describes a typical Member’s daily schedule – usually nonstop from 7:30AM or so until after 9PM most days, choreographed to the minute much like that of a GO.) We’d expect someone in a senior elected position in the Federal government devote the vast majority of their time and effort to the job he/she was elected to do, so that’s as it should be.
DoD also recognizes that being in a key Federal/state/industry position (some key positions are in industry) may preclude normal participation in Reserve duties. DoD has also decided that allowing Reservists who also serve in one of these key positions to continue their Reserve service is in DoD’s best interests. That’s almost certainly one reason that the Standby Reserve was created.
Finally, Graham’s placement in the Standby Reserve wasn’t his choice – DoD told him, “Standby Reserve, or resign your commission.” So Graham stayed in the USAFR, and played by the rules DoD dictated.
My take is that Graham seems to have done what he could to remain as active as time permitted in the Reserve Components. I’m guessing he “dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s” with respect to getting SECAF approval for all of his time spent in military training/active duty while serving in Congress. In fact, IMO he seems to have gone out of his way to do considerably more than was required for someone in his position.
For what it’s worth: if the dates listed in this article are correct (hat tip to TAH commenter AZtoVA), Graham appears to have considerably more than enough service in Afghanistan to qualify for the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and thus legitimately call himself an “Afghan veteran”. If those dates are correct for his military service time in Afghanistan, I counted over 100 days of nonconsecutive service in-country. (He’s got over 30 days service in Iraq as well, albeit nonconsecutively.) And if I’m reading the DoD regs correctly, since 1995 he did it without receiving anything but retirement points – e.g., no military pay and allowances.
I’ve never met Senator Graham. I don’t much care for some of his positions and recent actions, either. But he in my book he served honorably in the USAFR, and appears to have done far more than he was obligated (or would be expected) to do for someone in his position. The WaPO article attacking his service was IMO nothing more than a biased political hit piece.
And I’ll also say this: in my book, people who denigrated his service in comments here IMO owe Senator Graham an apology.
Bobo sends us a link to the Military Times which reports that Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno announced that the Army will open most jobs in the field artillery field of endeavor to female soldiers;
With the exception of the 13F military occupational specialty, “we have decided … we are not going to ask for a waiver to keep it closed,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno.
This decision, which opens up MOSs such as cannon crewmember (13B) and field artillery automated tactical data system specialist (13D), comes just weeks after the Army opened the combat engineer (12B) MOS to women.
It also follows a decision from more than a year ago to open all field artillery officer positions to women.
The 13 Foxtrot Military Occupational Specialty is Fisters (fire support specialists) who are usually assigned to support infantry and armor units, so I guess they’re waiting to see how those career fields fare in the realm of social engineers.
“We’ve done a lot of pilot programs, we’ve done a lot of physical testing, we’ve done a lot of testing on how we integrate women into units, and those are all going well,” Odierno said. “We want the best person, if they’re qualified and meet the standards, we want to give them the opportunity to do whatever they want.”
I can go along with that as long as they slap the hands of social engineers away from that standards thing.
We first wrote about Bruce Pendlay back in January along with several of our partners. A few days later, the police found him with a gunshot wound in his truck. Pendlay told police that someone “in a dark vehicle” had tried to murder him. Police found the weapon nearby and pieced together that Pendlay had tried to stage the crime scene, giving the impression that he was targeted because of his lies.
Well, that has backfired on him, too. Now the media is getting the word out that he lied for a decade about his military service.
A conviction on the interference charge could mean up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500, according to a Traveler report.
Pendlay had been incarcerated on a felony robbery conviction in Oklahoma for over a decade, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections website.
Pendlay is also facing scrutiny over an issue of Stolen Valor by the blogs “thisainthell.us” and “scotty-stolenvaloroffendersexposed.blogspot.com.”
So, Pendlay could have just admitted that he lied, but being a phony is too important to some of these people, and when they try to hunker down and perpetuate their lies, that just makes it worse. Ask any number of the phonies here who chose to fight us. Also ask some of the phonies who were busted, admitted it and moved on.
