You make the call.
In this corner … the Brits (hat tip to the Mudville Gazette).
Up against them … the Norwegians (hat tip to Blackfive).
My opinion: while the Brits have the strong point of unit cohesiveness, kudos and my vote to the Norwegians for the stunt work boy-band mockery.
My further opinion: the military is 99.99% hurry-up-and-wait. This is what happens when access to video technology is added to the “wait” portion.
Convicted yesterday, leftist peacenik and so-called serviceman Pablo Paredes was sentenced today.
A military judge ordered a Navy sailor on Thursday to complete three months of hard labor for refusing to deploy with his ship in protest of the war in Iraq, but he declined prosecutors’ requests for time in custody.
Lt. Cmdr. Bob Klant also reduced Pablo Paredes’ rank from petty officer third class to seaman recruit, the lowest in the Navy.
[…]
Prosecutors had asked Klant to sentence Paredes to nine months in confinement, three months less than the possible maximum, and a bad conduct discharge.
“He is trying to infect the military with his own philosophy of disobedience,” prosecutor Lt. Brandon Hale said. “Sailors all over the world will want to know whether this will be tolerated. Sailors want to know whether doing what he did is a good way to get out of deployment.”
Prosecutors left the courtroom without making any statements, but Sam Samuelson, a Navy spokesman, said Paredes’ guilty verdict sent a message.
“His actions were in conflict with his duty and taxpayers’ obligations that the Navy maintain good order and discipline,” Samuelson said.
Paredes got off way too easily. His lawyers know it and consider it a victory.
Paredes’ lawyer, Jeremy Warren, called the judge’s lesser sentence “a stunning blow to the prosecution.”
“This is an affirmation of every sailor’s and military person’s right to speak out and follow their conscience,” he said.
Actually, a guilty verdict is exactly not that, jackass.
Paredes and his ilk are cancers to the service and our society. Paredes himself is even worse — he’s a publicity whore of a cancer.
Paredes arrived at the Navy pier that day wearing a T-shirt that read “Like a Cabinet Member, I Resign” and handed over his military ID card, telling a military police officer “I quit.” Paredes has alerted the media to his plans and a crowd of TV cameras was waiting for him.
The judge seemed troubled by Paredes’ conduct – wearing a “silly T-shirt” with an incoherent message and staging a news conference that upset sailors and Marines who were saying goodbye to their families.
With all that, I say again this immature little punk got off way to easily. I do wonder, though, how his fellow sailors will treat him in the future.
Ours on the sand, theirs below the waves.
I’ve recently shown you articles that take a look at the role the M1-series tank is currently playing in Iraq and have stated the I view the Stryker as a complement rather than a competitor to the tank. Now, columnist Austin Bay examines the continuing need for the beast.
Like Mark Twain’s death, the demise of the tank has been “greatly exaggerated.”
Go there. Good read. Ug, me happy tanker.
Now, in the today’s very early hours I posted of a new Iranian submarine program and hoped for feedback from Chapomatic. He has obliged and generally disagreed with me.
I’m probably biased because I have been known to be near some of those submarine things, but if I had the industrial base, a small submarine for coastal defense near a strait would be an effective naval choice.
In my defense, I did not realize at the time that the program in question was for minisubs (such is the hazard of research via dial-up). I will concur that minisubs would have a great value in coastal affairs, but disagree by arguing that, in the highly-trafficked Persian Gulf, the minisub option has probably a extremely limited degree of hope in affecting travel through the Straits of Hormuz.
Citizen Smash points out that today was declared National Day of Action for GI Resisters.
YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW that Tuesday was a “National Day of Action for GI Resisters.†Well, it was! Notices were sent out to activists all over the country, urging them to converge on Fort Stewart, Georgia and San Diego, California to support “GI resisters†Kevin Benderman and Pablo Paredes.
Here in San Diego, people came in caravans from as far as San Francisco to participate in the event. Local activists were asked to host vistors. Army deserter Camilo Mejia and conscientious objector Aidan Delgado both came out to show their support. A banquet hall big enough to hold 700 people was reserved. The media were notified.
Smash attended the kickoff session and gives us his thoughts of the gathering. Go read.
Meanwhile, the Navy celebrated the day by convicting one of the speakers, shirker Pablo Paredes.
A Navy sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted Wednesday of missing his ship’s movement when he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in December.
A military judge deliberated about 40 minutes before finding Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes guilty of the count.
[…]
Paredes, a 23-year-old from the New York City borough of the Bronx, could receive a year in jail, a forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge.
[…]
While his shipmates bid farewell to loved ones, Paredes sat pierside and told reporters he did not want to be part of a war he considers illegal and immoral. He said his military training taught him to avoid what he views as a war crime.
[…]
Paredes says he was a different person when he joined the Navy in 2000, looking for a job and a way to get a college education. The Navy sent him to Yokosuka, Japan and once there, he says he had something of an awakening.
He began devouring works by writers like Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguistics professor and political activist. He joined political discussions with like-minded friends who criticized the Bush administration.
Paredes is no coward. Well, he may be, but it cannot be determined from this story as his deployment would have offered little or no personal danger. What can be determined is that Paredes is a pathetic, immature peacenik leftist who would happily trade shoving extra duty onto his supposed brothers in arms for a little publicity.
An interesting development — I have little doubt that this will end up costing lives … brave Iranian lives.
Iran on Tuesday officially launched production of its first locally built submarine, a craft that can fire missiles and torpedoes at the same time, state-run television reported.
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Imani was quoted as saying “the enemy would not be able to detect the submarine.” He did not elaborate.
My guess is magic. Either that, or outdated technology acquired from bigger players on the world stage.
One submarine has apparently already been built and was shown on television Tuesday, cruising at sea level. The Defense Ministry has commissioned an unspecified number of the craft that’s been dubbed “Ghadir.” Ghadir is a site in the Arabian Peninsula holy to Shiite Muslims, the overwhelming majority of Iran’s 69 million people.
The submarine is capable of operating in the Persian Gulf and Oman sea waters, according to the report, which did not specify the range of its projectiles.
In December, Iran announced the production of a line of stealth torpedoes that could be launched from helicopters, ships or submarines.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said the Islamic Republic will defend itself should the United States or Israel initiate any aggression.
For Iran’s sake, I would suggest that they focus more on areas where they can actually make a difference. While both the air and sea are our domain, this effort is nothing more than a publicity stunt. The sea is not theirs, and they are only risking brave sailors by putting them into the honored Silent Service on a much-disadvantaged basis. When you don’t control the above or the surface and can only pretend to manage a part of the below, you have the makings of a very bad idea.
I hope that Chapomatic will take a look at this from his own applicable perspective.
I have little interest personally in this story of alleged insulting treatment of the Koran at Guantanamo other than to say, if true, well, that’s pretty freakin’ stupid and needs to be corrected. Fast.
Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the story has some in a state of near-apoplexy.
Pakistan, a key Muslim ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, has voiced deep concern to Washington over a magazine report that U.S. interrogators in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran.
Newsweek magazine, in its latest edition, quoted sources as saying that investigators probing abuses at the military prison had found that interrogators “had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet.”
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Pakistan conveyed its deep concern to Washington over the reported desecration of the Muslim holy book, which sparked a student protest in Afghanistan and outraged Pakistani lawmakers.
“U.S. officials have stated that the alleged perpetrators of the reported desecration would be held accountable after the matter had been appropriately investigated and responsibility is established,” the statement said.
There has been growing public outrage in Pakistan over the report. The National Assembly, parliament’s lower house, on Monday passed a resolution denouncing the reported desecration and Imran Khan, a Pakistani cricketer turned politician, last week demanded an apology from the United States.
In Jalalabad, Afghanistan, about 2,000 students chanting “Death to America” protested over the reported desecration, some of them holding up an effigy of President Bush and shouting “Death to Bush.”
[…]
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the United States took the allegations seriously.
“Obviously, the destruction of any kind of holy book, whether it’s a Bible or a Koran or any other document like that, is something that’s reprehensible and not in keeping with U.S. policies and practices,” he said.
Quite counter-productive to our overall efforts. Such tales certainly endanger some of our successes to date if not dealt with properly. Oh yeah, did I already say stupid?
On the bright side, there is this, the wrath of a particular Pak pol.
Cricket hero-turned politician Imran Khan joined Pakistan’s parliament in denouncing the alleged desecration of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, by US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay.
Khan also condemned a US newspaper for publishing what politicians say is a humiliating cartoon about Pakistan’s hunt for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
“If the United States does not apologise on these incidents, then they must be asked to wrap up and vacate our bases under their use,” Khan was quoted as saying.
Khan!!!
Man, I love any excuse to use that link.
And so the fight on the latest round of base closures slowly stirs to a simmer.
A congressionally chartered panel of military experts said Monday the Pentagon should slow its withdrawal of troops from Europe and Asia and should keep in Germany one of the two heavy armored units currently scheduled to return to the United States.
“We’re saying slow this down, step back, take a breath,” said Al Cornella, chairman of the Overseas Basing Commission, whose report includes findings the Pentagon strongly disputes. “Let’s look at it and determine how” to accommodate the troops who are brought home, he said.
The commission also said it believes the Pentagon has underestimated the cost of repositioning U.S. forces abroad. It’s likely to cost closer to $20 billion than the $8 billion to $12 billion estimated by the Pentagon, the panel said in its report to Congress and President Bush.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said arrangements are in place to build housing and other facilities required for the return of an estimated 70,000 troops and 100,000 family members. Most of those are returning from Germany, but some also will come home from South Korea.
Whitman said that while the Pentagon appreciates the commission’s work, “the analysis has significant flaws and suffers from inaccuracies in its findings.”
He said the commission was wrong to conclude that the Pentagon has not adequately coordinated with other government agencies and with members of Congress, and he disputed the panel’s finding that overseas changes should await decisions on domestic military base closures.
Whitman said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s recommendations on which domestic bases to close or realign – to be disclosed no later than May 16 and possibly later this week – have taken into account the need to accommodate the 70,000 troops returning from overseas.
“We have plans, we know where they’re going to go” once they get to the United States, and the Pentagon has determined where additional facilities will be built to accommodate them, Whitman said.
[…]
The Overseas Basing Commission did not focus on the specifics of domestic base closings, but addressed instead the Pentagon’s plan for repositioning U.S. forces overseas – to include the plan to bring home 70,000 troops from Asia and Europe.
Cornella told a news conference Monday that the commission recommends keeping in Europe a 4,000-soldier heavy combat brigade that is scheduled for return to the United States. He and other commission members said this would provide a security hedge against unexpected threats in the European region, as well as enhance cooperation with NATO allies.
Please tell me any situation in Europe that could currently feasibly be anticipated that would demand the constant presence of an American heavy brigade. I see nothing presently on the horizon in Europe or the Middle East that would not allow for the difference in build-up time of Europe- or U.S.-based units. We’re not guarding the Fulda Gap against the ever-threatening Red Horde anymore, folks.
If I had to choose between leaving troops overseas in Germany or Korea, I would opt for Korea. That would leave us closer to expected hot spots where a heavy brigade would actually be needed on a must-be-there-yesterday basis. That said, bringing that brigade stateside from Europe would actually bring them to an easier Asian deployment.
And then there’s Iran. Should that little powderkeg blow up into a ground war, a brigade in Germany buys us little or none. A major deployment would be needed, and troops quickly shuttled in from Eastern Europe and the states, along with a heaping helping of air power, could certainly buy the time the deployment would require.
As an added plus to a withdrawal from Germany and its cohorts in Old Europe, maybe they would once again feel a need to contribute significantly to their own defense. Daddy can’t always be there for them every moment of the day — it’s time for them to face the full obligations of their current martial stability. Yeah, I feel a degree of ingratitude these days.
The Marines have issued a recall on over 5,000 armored vests which have had mixed results during testing.
When the U.S. Marines stormed into Fallujah last November — in the deadliest urban combat of the war — many may have been wearing body armor that may be flawed. But it wasn’t until last week the Marines ordered more than 5,000 of the potentially defective vests recalled.
The so-called Interceptor bulletproof vests are manufactured by Point Blank Armor of Pompano Beach, Fla., and are supposed to stop a 9mm bullet. But government tests showed that bullets fully penetrated some vests.
A Marine Corps memo dated July 19, 2004, warned that Army tests on one lot of vests “yielded failing results.”
But with the war heating up in Iraq, there was such a demand for more body armor the Marines ordered a separate, independent test. The Marine Corps says the armor passed that test, so nearly 5,300 from the suspected defective lot were passed out to Marines.
The story was first reported by the independent paper Marine Corps Times after an eight-month investigation.
“There are still vests that are rejected by contractors out there in the field,” says Marine Corps Times reporter Christian Lowe.
Monday, a company spokesman for Point Blank told NBC News, “We stand by our product” and “We do not know of any casualties or injuries related to the vest.”
The Marine Corps said Monday the vests are capable of stopping a 9mm bullet, but nevertheless ordered the extended recall last week.
The problem is that after extended wear and tear, serial numbers on each vest may be blurred and difficult to trace — making it impossible to tell which Marines are wearing what government experts claim are potentially defective vests.
Without adequate alternatives at the time, it certainly seems prudent to have additional testing. After all, some armor is certainly more protective than no armor.
Sorry, coach, my head’s just not in the game right now, so I just thought I’d leave you a little to read.
Is it Abu Ghraib or shoplifting?
US army demotes Janis Karpinski over Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib general demoted for shoplifting
This story is all over the place today, and nobody involved comes across as having handled the situation well:
Military mom’s call leads to son’s suspension
And this should ease some of the pain of the pending battle over base cuts:
Rumsfeld: Base Closings May Be Reduced
See y’all later on when the muse strikes. ‘Til then, I actually have to return to some paying work. Such is life with an oncall pager.
Ask a hero if he’s a hero and he’ll tell you no. Don’t bother asking this Marine — he is most definitely a hero.
Outnumbered, pinned down and under attack from three directions, the Marines of Echo Company were in danger of being overrun by Iraqi insurgents hurling grenades and firing rockets and AK-47s.
Lance Cpl. Thomas Adametz, 21, a native of the Philippines, was determined that the Marines would not be defeated in the April 26, 2004, battle.
He dashed in front of the bullet-riddled building where the Marines were under heavy fire, grabbed a machine gun and began firing at the enemy.
With Adametz’s covering fire, the Marines regrouped and the insurgents were repelled.
“I looked out there and saw this crazy maniac firing away so all the Marines could come back alive,” said Lance Cpl. Carlos Gomez-Perez, who was severely wounded in the attack.
On Wednesday, in a ceremony in which he was praised as a “great warrior,”Adametz was awarded the Silver Star, the United States’ third-highest award for combat bravery.
Dozens of Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division have received commendations in the Fallujah campaign. But only Adametz received the Silver Star.
Our country is truly fortunate to have such sons. I’ll leave this deserved honor with Adametz’s own words.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, Adametz seemed slightly embarrassed at being called a hero. “All I wanted to do was protect my brother Marines,” he said.
No, I won’t — I’ll leave it with his continued dedication.
He leaves in July for a third tour of duty in the Persian Gulf region.