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

Category: Veterans Issues

  • Marine vet/free lance journalist missing in Syria

    The McClatchy folks report that they’ve lost contact with Austin Tice, who they say is one of their freelance journalists and a former Marine officer who left active duty in January to pursue a career in reporting.

    He was one of the few American journalists reporting from inside Syria as the civil war there intensified.

    McClatchy spoke with Tice’s parents, who live in Houston.

    “We understand Austin’s passion to report on the struggle in Syria, and are proud of the work he is doing there. We trust that he is safe, appreciate every effort being made to locate him, and look forward to hearing from him very soon,” Marc and Debra Tice said in a statement to the newspaper.

    I hope he’s OK because, aside from the obvious reasons, we need more military veterans like him reporting what they see around the world from our particular perspective and getting the truth out.

    Thanks to AmyJ (not to be confused with ArmyJ) for the link.

  • Overblown idiocy

    Yeah, just a quick glance through the subsequent reports on William Alemar shows the media is taking it’s cue from the prosecutor who is apparently racing to cover her tracks on this;

    Fox News loves a veteran with a gun story;

    The Charleston Daily Mail quotes the prosecutor;

    The Martinsburg Daily Journal quotes the prosecutor who says Alemar was “highly intoxicated”;

    Yeah, that sounds likely. I know I always got “highly intoxicated” and then threw on a ruck and body armor and ran my ass off. If he was so dedicated to attending Ranger School that he was actually training for it, I doubt he was getting sloshed.

    Even if he was drunk, how is that “terroristic”? Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela Games-Neely says in the Journal article;

    “First of all, it is the correct charge. We are aware of it and it is the correct charge under the circumstances. That is not to say that there are not other issues going on with this young man. We are coordinating that between multiple agencies at this point. He was highly intoxicated at the time in addition to this and that gives everybody great cause for concern, especially around children,” Games-Neely said.

    Yeah, bring up “the children” – must be an election year. Since when is being around children with a toy gun a “great cause for concern”. Ditz. If the Martinsburg Police is going to start locking everyone up who gets near kids while they’re drunk, there won’t be anyone left in the State.

    Commenters to The Journal are already blaming PTSD for his runs and reported state of intoxication. Idjits. Hollywood has made us all practicing mental health professionals, apparently.

    And having empty “clips” isn’t a crime, no matter how many he had even in the bluer states. Especially empty “clips” for a toy gun. Never mind that the word is “magazines”, media dumbasses.

  • More nutty veteran BS

    Pat sends us a link to the story of a veteran, William Everett Alemar, 23, who was arrested for running near a school in his ballistic armor and “committing a terroristic act” in Martinsburg, WV on Monday, the first day of school there.

    Martinsburg Patrol Officers Michael Jones, Craig Richmond and Erik Herb encountered the man in the area of Silver Lane and South Raleigh Street “in full military desert camouflage and ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest,” Swartwood said in the news release.

    After engaging him at gunpoint, the officers ordered the man to his knees and then to the prone position before seizing an AR-15 (M-4) training rifle from him, according to the news release.

    Swartwood said Monday night that the rifle has the look and feel of one that shoots bullets, but it shoots pellets. Two knives and several unloaded magazines also were found in the man’s possession, according to the news release.

    So he’s being held on a $50,000 bond. The real story, we got from his First Sergeant, is that Billy is training for Ranger School, and was out running with an Airsoft rifle, and for that they toss his ass is jail.

    “The primary concern for the police department was that subject’s proximity to the area schools — Martinsburg High School, South Middle — when he was first located off Bulldog Boulevard,” Swartwood said.

    No explosives were found in a search of the man’s apartment Monday afternoon, but additional military equipment and a training pistol, similar to the rifle in its function, were found and seized as evidence, police said.

    So basically, they really have nothing on him. And they knew that as soon as they saw that he had a fake rifle, yet they still arrested him. I completely understand that they confronted him at gun point and cuffed him, but as soon as they discovered there was no threat to the community, they should have let him go.

    I’ve attempted to contact Billy on Facebook to get his side of the story, since the media isn’t being a help with their headline “Armed man wearing military camo, ballistic vest arrested near Martinsburg schools”. Technically, it’s correct since he was carrying two knives, but they make it sound as if he had a firearm.

    Alemar is assigned to the Woodstock, Va.-based Company B, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Virginia National Guard, West Virginia National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. David P. Lester said Monday night.

    Alemar deployed to Iraq from July 1 to Dec. 6, 2011, with Company D, 3-116th, and was assigned to Task Force 183 for convoy security duty, according to Lester.

    His First sergeant spoke highly of Billy, and TSO (who knows Billy’s 1SG, adds that the 1SG usually hates everyone. So I guess that’s a pretty good testimony as to his character.

    I’ve contacted the police department, but Barney Fife misplaced his bullet and the whole department is out looking for it now.

    ADDED: The only thing I can find in the Martinsburg City ordinances that is even remotely related to this is their prohibition of having weapons ON THE PREMISES of an educational facility;

    545.09 POSSESSING DEADLY WEAPONS ON PREMISES OF EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.
    (EDITOR’S NOTE: Former Section 545.09 which was derived from West Virginia Code 61-7-11a is no longer included in the Codified Ordinances. By Acts 1995 Chapter 90, the West Virginia Legislature reclassified such offense as a felony. Charges for possessing deadly weapons on premises of educational facilities should now be filed under state law.)

    Nothing about having a gun NEAR THE PREMISES of schools.

    And that “military gear” they seized from his apartment; I guess they couldn’t add one and one to figure out that he’s in the National Guard and would probably have “military gear” stashed in his home, could they?

  • Criticism for OPSEC video

    SO, it had to begin; folks are beginning to come out to criticize the people at OPSEC who released a video last week complaining that the Obama Administration is releasing secrets for political purposes and that Obama is taking personal credit for things that the military and intelligence community has done over the last decade.

    General Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff joins the chorus;

    “If someone uses the uniform, whatever uniform, for partisan politics, I am disappointed because I think it does erode that bond of trust we have with the American people,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said in an interview with Fox News while flying back from a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq.

    “Is their criticism valid? I won’t comment on that,” Dempsey said onboard a C17 military aircraft en route back from the Middle East. “Is it useful? No, it’s not useful. It’s not useful to me.”

    The Associated Press reports the one-way conversation from Admiral McRaven, President Obama and John Kerry;

    “Make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions,” the leader of the raid, Adm. Bill McRaven, said at this summer’s Aspen Security Forum.

    “I don’t take these folks too seriously,” President Barack Obama told the newspaper The Virginian-Pilot on Monday. “One of their members is a birther who denies I was born here, despite evidence to the contrary.” Special Ops OPSEC member ret. Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, who appears in the group’s film, has publicly questioned Obama’s birth in Hawaii.

    Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., compared the group’s campaign to the “Swift Boat” attacks that questioned his service during the Vietnam War. Though later discredited, the claims were partially blamed for unseating his 2004 presidential campaign.

    John Kerry? Really? The guy who all but wore his uniform every day of the 2004 Presidential Campaign?

    I don’t see anyone criticizing Jon Soltz who uses his military service like a shield from criticism. He runs VoteVets which is supposed to advance the political careers of veterans, but in the last election, they funded Harry Reid’s campaign. Harry Reid who fit their own definition of a draft dodger as they apply the definition to Republicans.

    Did anyone criticize Paul Rieckhoff when he attacked the Bush Administration while he was still a captain in the Reserves when he presented the Democrat’s opposition to a Bush radio address?

    And what about in New Hampshire the other day when Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen introduced the President as the guy who led the raid that got Obama? I didn’t hear the President refute that and humbly give credit where it was due.

    And, oh, yeah, read the President’s comment above again – and you wonder why I’ve been saying that birthers aren’t helpful Obama disparaged the whole group because they had one birther among them. Never mind that there are Democrats and people who voted for Obama in OPSEC, their good intentions are cast aside because of one birther.

    “They have a good point. I wish there was better OPSEC (operational security), and fewer leaks,” said retired Navy SEAL Capt. Rick Woolard, who commanded several SEAL units. “But I would prefer that SEALs and other special operators would sit down and shut the hell up.”

    Yeah, if they’d shut up on both sides of the issue, your criticism would be valid, Captain.

    More from Mr. Hanson.

  • “F*** the troops” Kokesh interviews Raub

    You may remember that we discussed Brandon Raub and the fact that he was tossed into a hospital, supposedly for his Facebook posts. Personally, I think there’s more to this than what’s been in the press. According to Raub, in an interview in Business Insider;

    “They were concerned about me calling for the arrest of government officials.”

    Yeah, I really don’t believe that because all of Veterans For Peace, Code Pink and most of IVAW would be locked up if that were the case. According to an FBI Richmond spokeswoman;

    “We went out to interview him because of complaints that our office had received about people coming across his posts and perceiving them as threatening so our office along with Chesterfield County Police Department on Thursday…”

    I think someone was disturbed by more than his Facebook posts, and the FBI wasn’t trolling his FB page – it was part of their investigation. What I saw on his FB page was a bit twisted, but nothing worth getting thrown in the hospital.

    Anyway, if I was trying to convince everyone that I’m not crazy, Adam Kokesh is probably the last person I’d talk to. You know the Adam Kokesh who was leading a “F*** the Troops” campaign a scant few weeks ago. But Old Trooper sent us this video of Adam interviewing Raub by phone. It’s interesting, to me, that “F*** the Troops” Kokesh is wearing his IVAW T-shirt again. Anyway, here’s the interview.

    Again, all we’re hearing is Raub’s side of the story. It’s also interesting that the Rutherford Institute, the same folks who led charge against the Stolen Valor Act in the 9th Circuit appeal of Xavier Alvarez are taking up the mantle for Raub.

    This will shake out one of two ways; 1) Raub did some nutty shit that frightened someone somewhere, or 2) The SPLC and DHS has convinced the local PDs that veterans are really a bunch of nuts who should all be locked up.

    I’m betting on #1.

  • A Good News Story from New Jersey

    Twelve sets of unclaimed cremated remains of deceased New Jersey veterans were buried with military honors today at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown.   Most had served in the two World Wars, but one set of remains dated from the Mexican Border Campaign.

    The burial was arranged by a group called Mission of Honor.  Since 2009, the group has reunited 170 sets of unclaimed veterans’ remains with kin and has arranged the burial of the remains of 79 other veterans.

    We have a lot of . . . real pieces of work that end up “honored” here at TAH who hail from New Jersey.  As a result we tend to give New Jersey grief.

    But as this goes to show there are some good people in that state too.  Well done, folks.  Thanks.

  • Secret Service questions Marine vet about “jump the White House fence” comment made to Vet counselor

    John sends us a link to a story at Military.com about Kevin Lane, a Marine Corps veteran who was visited by Secret Service agents about a less than artful comment he made to his counselor. Apparently, he was medically retired from his job as a Pentagon police officer and regretted that decision and was frustrated over attempts to get back to the job. He told his counselor that maybe if he jumped the White House fence, someone would listen to him and help him out.

    That comment, instead of assistance, brought Secret Service agents to his door step.

    Lane’s situation drums up concerns veterans and PTSD patients already have about the confidentiality of their counseling sessions and how their condition will affect their careers. Lane said PTSD cost him his job, and this incident made him distrustful of people he’d expected to be able to turn to for help.

    Secret Service officials confirmed they interviewed Lane and explained their agents have a responsibility to investigate any possible threat against the president.

    “The Secret Service respects the right of free speech and expression but we certainly have the right and obligation to speak to individuals to determine what their intent is,” Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said in an email.

    Maybe the Secret Service was doing their job, but was the counselor doing his? It reminds me of the sergeant in DC who was reported by the suicide hotline counselor to the police which resulted in police breaking into his apartment and his arrest.

    Somehow, I don’t think this kind of stuff happens to civilians. Well, actually, it doesn’t happen to civilians – like the Colorado shooter whose clinician didn’t report his behavior. Or Loughner in Arizona who the police knew was illin’ but did nothing about it, until he shot up a bunch of people.

    Lane didn’t even threaten anyone. Any person who has ever been to the White House can attest that there are so many security people wandering around, no one could get far if they jumped the fence – which happens a couple of times every year.

    Lane even told the counselor that he understood the downside of doing that, and that he wasn’t intending to do it. But the counselor felt a need to contact the Secret Service anyway. Nothing like giving a paranoid person a reason to be paranoid, is there?

    ADDED: John clarifies who the counselor really was;

    The PTSD counselor was not from the Veterans Administration but from a Virginia Department of Veterans Services Grant funded Wounded Warrior Project (not the national program of same name) run by the Rappahanock Area Community Services Board. It is a group of do gooders from the local Mental health Regions collecting a paycheck venturing into areas that should be the purview of the Military and the Veterans Administration as well as the many Veterans Service Organizations. while they have been employing Vets to be Peer group leaders it seems to have been a nice financial boon for the local community service boards to suck up on the government grants to provide additional services at the Community Level for Virginia Vets.

    Mr Lane would have been better served to have gone to an good PTSD program as offered at the Martinsburg, Ruchmond or Lyons VAMCs where he would have gotten care and counseling he needed from people who deal with Veterans on a daily basis and who generally know enough to tell the difference from Hyperbole and a real threat!

    PTSD is not a mental Illness it is a normal reaction to life threatening stress. It never goes away but tools how to deal with that stress help to assuage the affects. these local boards need to leave the issue to those who know best and get out of the business of offering services out of their lane. I know it is a nice rice bowl for them but it belongs with real Veterans Professionals.

  • “Good Stewardship of Public Funds”

    Remember the recent brouhaha about the recent GSA conference in Las Vegas that cost Uncle Sam $823+k?   Well, that looks to have been chump change.  Another agency has easily topped that.

    Apparently the VA also likes to hold conferences.  As in holding two rather large conferences during the past year, at a total cost of at least $5M.

    Large conferences have a purpose, I guess.  And organizations do derive some benefits from periodic face-to-face meetings.

    But I have a rather hard time understanding how an organization with a backlog of literally over a half-million claims pending action can think that spending $5M annually on conferences is  good stewardship of public funds.  For that same $5M, the VA could have hired 100 additional employees at the GS11 or 12 grade level (including the normal +33% of salary for employer taxes/benefits/retirement) provided they hired locally and didn’t have to pay PCS expenses.

    Priorities here just don’t seem exactly as they should be.