Target Centermass

Category: Military

  • Anti-Prostitution Rule Drafted for U.S. Forces

    Had a newly-announced crackdown on our military been in effect in Viet Nam, I could not say our world would be a better place. I could, however, say a fun portion of American ’80s culture would’ve been impaired. A great movie and a popular song would’ve forever missed the phrase “Ooh, me so horny, me love you long time.”

    U.S. service members stationed overseas could face a court-martial for patronizing prostitutes under a new regulation drafted by the Pentagon.

    The move is part of a Defense Department effort to reduce the possibility that service members will contribute to human trafficking in areas near their overseas bases by seeking the services of women forced into prostitution.

    In recent years, “women and girls are being forced into prostitution for a clientele consisting largely of military services members, government contractors and international peacekeepers” in such places as South Korea and the Balkans, Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) said yesterday at a Capitol Hill forum on Pentagon anti-trafficking efforts.

    I fundamentally agree with all of this, but returning to the icons of the ’80s, what about the portrayal of Subic Bay in An Officer and a Gentleman?

  • U.S. Soldiers Introduce Baseball to Iraqis

    Okay, here’s my feel-good story of the day.

    Gray-shirted Brusiks filled the bases in the final inning when the potential winning run strode to the plate — Kamaran Sabir, the team’s 14-year-old slugger.

    Kamaran clenched his teeth. The Nawruz pitcher, Diller Fakhraddin, stared back. Parents in the stands wrung their hands and shouted. Diller’s fastball whizzed in, and Kamaran hacked.

    Strike one. Strike two. Then, “Strike three!” yelled the umpire, U.S. Army Capt. Deron Haught. “You’re out!”

    And what may have been Iraq’s first organized baseball game was over, with the red-shirted Nawruz — the Kurdish word for New Year’s Day — beating Brusik, or Team Lightning, 10-7.

    The teams of 13- to 17-year-old boys are the only two in Altun Kupri’s new league, and Wednesday was opening day in this northern Iraqi village, a clutch of blocky buildings named for a 16th century Ottoman bridge that once spanned the Little Zab River here.

    It was a perfect evening for baseball. Parents crunched pistachios to the ding of aluminum bats. Soldiers from the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade stood guard at the soccer field-turned-ball diamond, with a Humvee parked at each outfield foul pole and another sitting just beyond the center field fence.

    This is real hearts-and-minds stuff. While I normally view such activity with a jaded eye, I think this is the kind that can work. Involve the children and families. Let them know that there’s life without war, without terror, without the boredom of soccer. Okay, it’s not time for this in the Sunni triangle, but perhaps it is time for more, much more of this in the majority of Iraq.

    Haught, commander of a platoon that occupies a small base in this town 205 miles north of Baghdad, said the soldiers hope America’s favorite pastime catches on in Iraq.

    “I’d like to see one of them get a scholarship at West Virginia University and then go and play for the Pirates,” said Haught, 37, a Pittsburgh fan who hails from Harrisville, W.Va.

    It’s not an impossible dream. Baseball has thrived in some countries where U.S. troops have deployed, including Cuba, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

    ….

    The idea for the league arose after Haught’s soldiers began playing baseball among themselves. They made a ball from wadded paper wrapped in duct tape. An aluminum cot leg was the bat.

    Haught said he mentioned the games to his sister back in West Virginia. “She felt bad. We were over here serving our country and we were playing baseball with a tape ball and a cot leg,” he said. “So she started Operation Home Run.”

    Packages began arriving filled with baseballs, bats and gloves.

    At the same time, the platoon was trying — and failing — to unify Altun Kupri’s sports clubs, which are grouped, like the town, into Turkomen and Kurdish camps. So the soldiers started their own sports club and made it a baseball league. In July, Haught persuaded the city council to send over a few dozen kids.

    He wasn’t sure it would work. Iraqis play soccer and volleyball, sports that don’t involve catching or throwing. But the kids picked up the basics.

    I think this is great stuff. I look forward to hearing about a future Iraqi counterpart talking of his childhood hero, Keith al-Hernandez.

    With the final out on opening day, Diller, the winning 16-year-old pitcher, and his teammates poured off the field, their arms in the air, shouting “Nawruz, Nawruz!”

    “I like this game. It’s better than soccer,” the lanky boy said.

    Perhaps we’re really not so different after all.

    EDIT: More on Operation Home Run here, here and here.

  • Read This … Please

    I read this when it was first posted and wanted to link. One thing, another, etc. Anyway, from Bill helping out at the Gazette, here’s this from Blackfive.

    Thanks, Doc. You did all that could’ve been asked and more.

  • Edwards: No Military Draft if Dems Win

    As it should be, national defense is an issue in the 2004 presidential election. Unfortunately, it is not being discussed but, rather, manipulated in a seemingly concerted effort.

    Vice presidential candidate John Edwards promised a West Virginia mother on Wednesday that if the Democratic ticket is elected in November the military draft would not be revived.

    During a question-and-answer session, the mother of a 23-year-old who recently graduated from West Virginia University asked Edwards whether the draft would be reinstated.

    “There will be no draft when John Kerry is president,” Edwards said, a statement that drew a standing ovation.

    The current force is all-volunteer, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he opposes reinstating the draft. But the Pentagon has taken several steps that have drawn criticism.

    In June, the Pentagon recalled to active duty 5,674 members of the Individual Ready Reserve, soldiers who have served specified tours of duty but have years remaining in their enlistment contracts.

    Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, has complained about the extent of the Bush administration’s use of Reserves and National Guardsmen and a device called “stop loss,” which prevents soldiers from leaving when typical obligations end. “They have effectively used a stop-loss policy as a backdoor draft,” Kerry said.

    First, tie this to the (incorrect) allegation of a backdoor draft during Kerry’s DNC acceptance speech.

    Second, tie this to an email campaign started from a “Soapbox Alert” on Congress.org, a soapbox alert that has been subsequently removed and has been replaced with the message “The Soapbox Alert you’ve requested is no longer available.”

    Luckily, a discussion forum I’m a member of was subjected to repeated postings of this “alert” and threads are still available. The alert read as follows:

    Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005
    The Draft will Start in June 2005

    There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program’s initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 — just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public’s attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.

    $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan – fiscal year 2004.

    The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld’s prediction of a “long, hard slog” in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on “terrorism”] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.

    Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na…s89/default.asp entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, “to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18–26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.” These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.

    Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era.

    College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a “smart border declaration,” which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a “pre-clearance agreement” of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.

    Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a
    shelter and includes women in the draft.

    The public has a right to air their opinions about such an important decision.

    Please send this on to all the friends, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins that you know. Let your children know too — it’s their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!

    Please also contact your representatives to ask them why they aren’t telling their constituents about these bills — and contact newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they’re not covering this important story.

    I looked into this and quickly was able to set up a pat response anytime this was posted: both pieces of legislation, while legitimate, were introduced in 2003 by Democrats (e.g. Rangel, McDermott, Conyers, Hollings). That President Bush is so brilliant as to be able to manipulate the Dems into submitting legislation supporting his secret plans is simply astounding.

    Okay, enough of fighting the stupidity campaign with facts. Now, let’s look at Edwards’ promise.

    This is simply a promise that never should be made. If unforeseen events demand a draft, the president would either have to break the promise or live up to it, cutting short our ability to respond.

    Nobody wants a draft. The all-volunteer military is far more effective in its current form than it would be with a bunch of conscripts. However, it cannot and should not be promised that there will not arise a need for conscripts. Contrary to apparently popular perception, the draft wasn’t a public raping used exclusively in the Viet Nam campaign. No, the draft has a long history of being used by this country in time of need, back to the Civil War and even in WWII, despite the popular notions that these were wars fought by idealistic volunteers.

    We are the United States of America. We have several advantages in our global position, militarily speaking, among which are the following:

    • Nuclear capability, anytime, anywhere
    • Technological superiority
    • Relatively sizable population

    It is my opinion that none of these advantages should ever be taken off the table. Our military is for this nation’s defense; I can honestly never see a reason to broadcast to a potential enemy that we, by policy, limit ourselves in any fashion.

    I honestly do not think that the Kerry-Edwards ticket takes our national defense and the fight against Islamist terror seriously. I have spoken before, repeatedly, about wrestling with the idea of re-enlisting since 9/11. I state now that (barring disaster), this will not happen if Kerry wins the presidency.

    It’s that simple. Short of disaster, I will not again volunteer to serve while John Kerry is Commander-in-Chief.

    At least I’m wise enough to hedge and allow for necessity; Edwards isn’t.

  • Luxembourg Holds Massive World War II Liberation Celebrations

    Luxembourg celebrates, remembers and thanks.

    Luxembourg was only a brief stop for American forces sweeping through France on their way to Germany in World War II. But the liberation of the tiny country of 450,000 left strong memories.

    There were bands, speeches, church services, and commemoration medals as this small country looked back to remember the day that its precious freedom was restored from German occupation.

    In one ceremony at Luxembourg’s American military cemetery, where General George Patton is buried, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker hailed the American contribution.

    “This is a day of thankfulness to these brave American soldiers who from the other side of the ocean came to Europe, and came to this tiny country, to liberate this country,” the prime minister said.

    Luxembourg invited 20 American veterans who took part in the liberation 60 years ago, to return to the country for observances. The oldest of those, 90-year-old John Colligan of New York, said recognition means a lot.

    “These people, 60 years later, they’re doing it because of appreciation,” he said. “And that’s a long time to keep your mind set that you want to show your appreciation. I admire them for that.”

    Pretty good stuff. And then I came to this:

    Luxembourgers have their own perspectives on the war. For 82-year-old Victor Fischbach, it was unique. He was forced into the German army like many other able-bodied Luxembourg men. But he later escaped, and, with the help of a priest, spent 13 months hiding in a Luxembourg church with several of his countrymen. Mr. Fischbach says liberation will never be forgotten by Luxembourg.

    “When an American speaks about Europe he must think that Luxembourg is, maybe, the best friend, the strongest friend,” said Mr. Fischbach. “And we’ll never forget what we are owing to America. From time to time, I go to the military cemetery, the American cemetery. I go alone and I cry, I cry. I can’t help, I cry. And I say, go there. If you don’t believe any more in America. Go there, and you will find again, and see again what they have done for us.“

    Not all have forgotten or, rather, have chosen to not remember.

  • Arroyo Leading Philippines into Hell

    As if her please-don’t-hurt-us retreat from Iraq (and the accompanying $6 million payoff to terrorists) wasn’t enough, now there’s this little tidbit.

    Philippine President Gloria Arroyo says she has ordered the country’s defense minister to begin work on strengthening military ties with China.

    Ms. Arroyo told reporters Tuesday that Defense Minister Avelino Cruz will travel to Beijing soon to discuss defense and security matters with Chinese authorities and help set a framework for bilateral military cooperation.

  • Hot off the Mudville Gazette presses

    Looks like one of my favorite MilBloggers — Hell! the founder of the MilBloggers — has received the summons. Best wishes and happy hunting, Greyhawk!

    EDIT: Grayhawk needs a little help if he is to keep blogging on his “trip.”

    Update: By the way, if everyone who wanders by here would see fit to hit that paypal button for a modest (really, 5 bucks would be great) donation this site will continue to provide you with the insights and diversions that I hope are your reasons for visiting. Honestly, if not, it will likely vanish within a few short weeks. That’s not a threat, it’s just an unavoidable truth.

    And whether you contribute or not, I’ll take this time to note that if you don’t vote this year I will find you on my return to the states and personally kick your ass.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Update 2: I would consider it a great favor if fellow bloggers would kindly link this post. Thanks.

    Update 3: I suppose I should point out I’m going on a trip (ahem) and without some proper gear will be unable to continue updating this site – just to clarify. Said gear is not cheap, (think laptop and digital camera) and I think you might be interested in my reports from my destination.

  • Russia, Israel Agree on Anti-Terror Union

    Based upon the shared burden of what is increasingly, albeit belatedly, recognized as a common enemy, Russia’s foreign minister has welcomed an offer by Israel of assistance against terror. It seems, however, that Russia isn’t quite to the point of understanding the story being played out on the global stage.

    While showing willingness to work with Israel against militants, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said any counter-terrorism alliance would have to include Arab countries — in a nod to Russia’s traditional allies in the region.

    “We appreciate the very strong readiness of the Israeli people to help Russia at this hour and this will certainly strengthen the counterterrorist coalition these days,” Lavrov said.

    “We certainly are taking into account the need to be more effective,” he told reporters during a visit to President Moshe Katsav.

    In a meeting with Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres, Lavrov said terrorism is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news – web sites), in a telephone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin (news – web sites) on Sunday, proposed expanded intelligence coordination between the two countries.

    However, Lavrov was careful to point out that Israel was one of several Middle Eastern countries with which Russia coordinated on security issues, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and other Arab states.

    “Terrorism doesn’t have any nationalities,” he said. “I believe the key to the solution of the problem is to bring all countries to fight terror and I can assure you that in addition to our very close counterterrorist cooperation with Israel we have similar counterterrorist cooperation with Arab countries.”

    Yes, I see some value in saying any mideast alliance would have to include Arab nations. That value would be the maintenance of Russia’s traditional regional allies, who are, unfortunately, part of the problem currently. Also, the insistence of the inclusion of an Arab state precludes the inclusion of Israel.

    I also note the “terrorism doesn’t have any nationalities” portion. While this is true, it would also be true, and in my mind crucially important, to finally admit that Islamic terrorism most assuredly has tendencies towards a small number of nationalities.

    The global war on Islamic terror is currently being fought in four theaters:

    • Israel and the Israeli-controlled regions
    • Afghanistan, involving the U.S., NATO and other allies
    • Iraq, with the U.S, British, Polish, Australian, Japanese forces, among others
    • Russia, with essentially anywhere and anyone in that vast region a potential target

    Unfortunately, short of the Afghani and Iraqi theaters, there is little if any realization that these four hotspots are related. In fact, the American and Euro left have worked feverishly to separate Iraq from the campaign against Islamic fascism. This is essentially akin to arguing that Operation Torch, the invasion of Vichy-controlled Northern Africa in 1943 was not part of WWII because Hitler was in Berlin.

    No, these four areas must certainly be linked if the radical and expansionist Islamist movement is to be stopped. In fact, future battlegrounds assuredly lurk in the near future (e.g. Sudan, Syria, Iran, heck, many, many more, potentially). The sooner the good guys (and I have zero qualms phrasing it that way) realize the scope of the situation and that we are now entering World War IV, the sooner the Allies can intertwine and bolster each other’s efforts. The more radIslam spreads, the greater the eventual bloodbath will be.

    I’d wager that even some in France realize this.

  • 65 Years Ago Today

    Wow, a coworker just mentioned the date and it suddenly dawned on me that today is the 65th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II. I finally found a news story about it.

    Poland’s prime minister marked the 65th anniversary of the start of the Second World War on Wednesday, unveiling a new memorial on the spot where a German warship fired the opening shots at a Polish munitions depot, sparking nearly six years of bloody conflict.

    The ceremony began to the wailing of sirens on the Westerplatte peninsula in the Baltic port of Gdansk at 4:45 a.m., the exact time that the German ship Schleswig-Holstein shelled the depot and its 182-strong garrison on Sept. 1, 1939, starting the war that left an estimated 50 million dead, including six million European Jews at the hands of the Nazis.

  • Swiftboat Vets Offer a Deal to Kerry

    … and there’s no way he can accept it.

    The following letter was delivered to the Kerry Campaign today by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

    Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
    P.O. Box 26184
    Alexandria, Virginia 22313

    August 31, 2004

    Senator John Kerry
    901 15th Street NW
    Washington, DC 20005

    Dear Senator Kerry:

    As you prepare for your address before the American Legion in Nashville, Tennessee, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth encourages you to use this opportunity to clarify your actions in Vietnam and your statements about your fellow Veterans and shipmates when you returned home. Since you have made your four-month tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of your campaign, we respectfully insist that you be truthful. The public is owed a full and honest accounting of your actions. Veterans are owed an apology from you and an acknowledgement that there was no basis in fact for the accusations you made against them.

    We urge you to:

    1. Apologize for your conduct once you returned from Vietnam. Your exaggerated testimony before the US Senate; the blanket indictment of your fellow veterans; throwing away medals and ribbons; all of these actions dishonored America and the armed forces. Your rhetoric and actions were not only wrong, they aided the enemy and brought great pain to POW’s, veterans and their families.

    2. Clarify the conflicting accounts involving the Bay Hap River incident of March 13, 1969 (Bronze Star and 3rd Purple Heart). You have now described three different versions of this incident. In the first version of this incident presented during the Democrat National Convention, you stated: “No man left behind,” suggesting to the American people that you alone stayed on the river to rescue Mr. Rassmann. Later, when forced to acknowledge conflicting eyewitness testimony from fellow swift boat veterans, you said that your boat left the scene to return moments later to retrieve Jim Rassmann from the water. Yet, in another version of the same incident discovered in the Congressional Record, you reported that your boat struck a mine and Rassmann fell off the boat. Mr. Kerry, please explain to your fellow veterans and the American people which version is the truth.

    3. Affirm that the injuries for which you received your purple hearts never required any medical treatment beyond perhaps a bandage and that, in all instances, these injuries were self-inflicted and came from your own weapon. Further, that if any of these purple hearts were falsely awarded, that you would not have been eligible to leave Vietnam after serving only four months.

    4. Acknowledge what your own biographer is now saying, that the Christmas in Cambodia claim is “obviously wrong,” that you were never in Cambodia over Christmas or any other time during your brief, four-month tour in Vietnam and that your statements before the United States Senate in 1986 were false.

    If you undertake these steps we will be satisfied that the American public has been sufficiently apprised as to these aspects of your career, and we will discontinue the media advertisements you have sought so fervently to silence.

    Please know that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are eager to close our own personal chapters on Vietnam and instead focus on the war we’re currently fighting — the ongoing war on terrorism. In the absence of full public disclosure and a public apology, we will continue efforts to carry our message to an ever-expanding base of grassroots supporters.

    Senator Kerry, we want to get Vietnam behind us. But, we can only do so if the truth is told.

    We respectfully await your reply.

    Sincerely,

    Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

    EDIT: I’ve been checking through my blogroll and I have yet to see a mention of this, even from The InstaMeister. Wow, thank you TexAgs. Of course, I’m sure I’m overlooking somebody.