Target Centermass

Category: Military

  • Non-Rita Quick Hits

    Defense says Lynndie England easily influenced by lover

    Army Pfc. Lynndie England’s attorneys, marshaling their defense for the first time Wednesday, laid blame for her participation in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal on her blind love for and trust of soldier Charles Graner Jr., whom the Army put in charge of part of the dangerous Iraqi facility.

    England, who attended special-education classes for much of her childhood, has learned to rely on strong authority figures, her lead attorney said, and that left her vulnerable to Graner in Abu Ghraib, where their unit took dozens of photos and videos of naked prisoners in humiliating positions in late 2003. Graner has already been convicted.

    “He’s older than I am. He’s been around. He’s experienced,” her attorney, Capt. Jonathan Crisp, said of England’s feelings. “He’s a corrections officer in the civilian world. He must know what’s going on. I love him; he loves me. Everybody looks up to him.”

    England, 22, a reservist from West Virginia, stands accused of two counts of conspiracy, four counts of mistreatment of prisoners and one count of indecent acts in connection with the photos. If convicted of all counts, she could face an 11-year prison sentence.

    I doubt strongly that this defense will stand up, as England, like every soldier, was well versed in the Universal Code of Military Justice. Peer pressure or love or stupidity ain’t an out. The poster child for the anti-war left’s (read New York Time’s) Abu Ghraib campaign has to pay her due.

    Pelosi willing to give up S.F. funds for recovery

    House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said Tuesday she was willing to return to the federal Treasury $70 million designated for San Francisco projects in the new highway and transportation bill and use the money to help pay for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

    Well, obviously that portion of federal spending was expendable. If only we could find some other places to cut spending.

    Sheehan’s Anti-War Campaign Now in D.C.

    Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan pledged Wednesday to “force change to happen” during protest speeches outside the White House and Capitol.

    Sheehan arrived in Washington after a three-week cross-country bus tour that began near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. She is expected to participate in an anti-Iraq war rally Saturday that organizers hope could draw tens of thousands of people.

    Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed last year in Iraq, wants Bush to explain why he sent the United States to war and say what steps he will take to end the conflict.

    “This is where we will force change to happen because we the people of America are the checks and balances on this government,” she said. “And we will end this war.”

    […]

    Sheehan’s one-woman protest in Texas this August re-energized the anti-war movement as well as supporters of the U.S.-led invasion and of American troops serving in Iraq. Rallies in opposition to the anti-war protesters also are set for this weekend in the capital.

    I’ve already given my thoughts on Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan. I’ll leave it to Confederate Yankee to nail what is missing from WaPo’s story:

    The AP, Washington Post, and other news sources gleefully mentioned Cindy Sheehan’s march on the White House this afternoon. With the exception of Reuters, however, they were all more than willing to forego this little tidbit of information:

    “Mrs Sheehan was joined by about 30 supporters in her march down Pennsylvania Avenue to deliver a letter to Bush urging him to pull the troops out of Iraq.”

    That’s all, folks. I count 29 people. This is her entire protest party. Including Cindy.

    Hamas chief hints at compromise

    THE militant Islamic group Hamas could one day accept the existence of the state of Israel and negotiate, one of its political leaders said yesterday in an unprecedented sign of compromise.

    For years, Hamas has criticised the ruling Fatah movement of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, for allegedly selling out claims to all of historic Palestine by recognising Israel and confining the Palestinian struggle to the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

    But Mohammed Ghazal, a respected figure within the movement from the West Bank city of Nablus, said yesterday: “The [Hamas] charter is not the Koran.

    “Historically, we believe all of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, but we’re talking now about reality, about political solutions. The realities are different.”

    Hamas is about to join the Palestinian Authority’s political system by participating in January’s legislative elections.

    Analysts differed over whether Mr Ghazal’s comments suggested Hamas might take a more moderate approach.

    The movement has made it clear it will not disarm its military wing, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings against civilian and military targets, even after the election.

    Mr Ghazal’s remarks were described as “unusual” and “a new language” by Ziyad Abu Amr, a Palestinian MP who is also an expert on the movement. But they elicited cool reactions from other leading figures within Hamas and from Israel.

    The new language is a reaction to a possible line in the sand by Israel about Hamas’ role in upcoming PA elections. Israel, which has already willingly and unilaterally withdrawn from the Gaza Strip, has certainly earned a little cooperation from the Palestinian side, though I have no faith in Hamas actually making any serious steps toward a mutually beneficial future. I expect this development to be little more than a reactive twitch on the face of a terrorist organization that once claimed it was politically ready to rule Palestine but currently sees the Palestinians as ungovernable.

  • General: Iraq Hurt Katrina Response

    Though notably hedging on any actual impact, the commander of the National Guard Bureau has said that overseas deployments may have impaired the Guard’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

    The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those states’ initial storm response, military and civilian officials said Friday.

    Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that “arguably” a day or so of response time was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard’s 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana’s 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq [emphasis added].

    “Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear,” said Blum.

    Blum said that to replace those units’ command and control equipment, he dispatched personnel from Guard division headquarters from Kansas and Minnesota shortly after the storm struck.

    I could also “arguably” say that this is a rather poor excuse. Obviously, sufficient Guard units were available in nearby states. If these were needed earlier than they arrived, then they were not mobilized quickly enough. Beyond that, any possible loss of a day on the scene and able to contribute by out-of-state units may also have occurred had the Louisiana and Mississippi units been home, as the storm has caused an estimated $1 billion damage to military installations in its path and wreaked havoc on transportation and local communication.

    Blum went on to elaborate on planning for potential Guard deployment related to Katrina.

    Blum also said that in a worst-case scenario up to 50,000 additional Guardsmen per month will be needed in Louisiana or Mississippi over the next four months to continue providing relief, law enforcement and other post-hurricane services.

    Those 200,000 troops, if needed, would represent nearly two-thirds of the approximately 319,000 Guard troops available nationwide.

    Blum said his staff has almost completed a plan for 30-day rotations of Guard units so that no one will have to serve in the Gulf Coast for more than a month.

    In this matter, I do agree that the stress of overseas deployments will only compound the strain demanded by Katrina.

    There are about 30,000 Guardsmen in Iraq and a smaller number in Afghanistan, Kosovo and elsewhere overseas.

    Out of curiousity, when was the last time you heard a demand for an exit strategy from Kosovo?

  • Six in Calif. Guard to Face Courts-martial

    And the hits just keep on coming for the California National Guard.

    Six members of a California Army National Guard unit will face courts-martial for allegedly mistreating detainees in Iraq, military officials said Tuesday.

    The trials were ordered after investigators reviewed allegations of prisoner abuse by 12 soldiers with the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment.

    Two cases involve a so-called general court-martial, reserved for the most serious infractions, while four involve a midlevel court called a special court-martial, according to Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman.

    Two additional cases have been completed in what is known as a summary court-martial, which hears lesser offenses, but the outcomes were not immediately available, Whetstone said. Four remaining cases were still under investigation, he said.

    The soldiers, who were not identified, belong to the battalion’s Fullerton-based Alpha Company. Some face charges of mistreatment of a person under their control, assault and making a false statement, while one soldier was charged with obstruction of justice, military officials have said.

    “We are confident that the military justice system will address these charges fairly and appropriately, and that a just outcome will be reached,” the guard said in a statement.

    The announcement of these prosecutions comes just on the heels of a brief moment of good news for the Cali Guardsmen.

    I first mentioned this alleged abuse story in this post and its effect on MilBlogger Major K., who rightly pointed out the problem of a few bad apples, in this follow-on post.

    May justice be met, and I have confidence that it will be.

  • Army Report Rejects Guard Spying Claims

    After a rough summer, there’s a bit of good news for the California National Guard.

    An Army report has cleared the California National Guard of allegations that it spied on citizens, accusations that triggered an ongoing state Senate investigation.

    The California Guard’s acting adjutant general, Brigadier Gen. John R. Alexander, said Monday that the Army’s inspector general determined in the confidential report that a Guard intelligence unit did nothing wrong.

    “There was never the intent, desire or decision to ever collect intelligence information on any U.S. citizen,” Alexander said in a written release. “Any statement to the contrary is flat wrong.”

    State Sen. Joseph Dunn launched an investigation after a series of e-mails and actions suggested the unit had resorted to the same type of civilian monitoring seen during Vietnam War-era protests. In the 1960s and 1970s, the military collected information on more than 100,000 Americans.

    The Guard and the state attorney general say the unit merely tries to assess threats to bridges, buildings and other structures and does no spying.

    A sister unit monitored a Mother’s Day anti-war demonstration at the state Capitol, but the Guard said that amounted to reviewing media accounts.

    The spying allegations are far from over, at least at the state level.

    Dunn was skeptical of the report’s conclusions, in part because he believes the terminology used in Alexander’s announcement could be used to hide indirect surveillance activity and record-keeping by the Guard.

    “I’m concerned that the Guard has been playing a game with us on this issue,” the lawmaker said Monday.

    As for the inspector general’s conclusion, “This is a little bit like the fox saying there aren’t any hens in the hen house — at least not anymore,” Dunn said.

    I know little of California’s in-state politics, but I’ve been suspicious of Dunn’s motivations since this story first broke and I was compelled to write the following:

    Dunn demands hearings. Guard cancels an interview because of those hearings. Dunn claims Guard is shutting up and casts a shadow on the military. Listen, Dunn, the Guard is not hiding from you; rather, they’re heeding your beck and call. Must you smear them with suspicion and questions of perception before they even sit before you at your hearing?

    I stand by my initial reaction that Dunn is driven by a distrust of the military. That, or he opportunistically sees an chance to make a name for himself on the Cali political stage at the expense of those in uniform. You know, big game hunter goes after big, bad military and all that rot.

    Still, after a summer of silly complaints at home and serious allegations for those deployed, the California Guard has to welcome today’s exoneration by the Army.

  • Saturday Night Mil Links

    Well, actually these are a couple of articles I’d hoped to blog on the last two days but found myself too busy to manage. As it is, I’ll throw them out as links that I found interesting, though not necessarily heartening.

    Changing role of Guard is taking toll on citizen soldiers

    According to military officials, what the men and women of the Guard and Reserves are experiencing now is what they will be experiencing for some time. The role of the citizen soldier has changed, they say, for now and into foreseeable future.

    “We used to be a strategic reserve,” said Maj. Gen. Mark Bowen, head of the Alabama Army National Guard. “I would say now we’re an operational reserve. When a guy gets in the Guard nowadays, he can figure that he’s going to be deployed somewhere.”

    Recruitment is down dramatically, mostly because prospective recruits are worried about deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan or another country. In recent years, Guard members and reservists have served extended tours in Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor and Haiti.

    Jack Kelly: Parent-trap snares recruiters

    Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents.

    It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect’s mom greeted him wearing an American flag T-shirt.

    “I want you to know we support you,” she gushed.

    Rivera soon reached the limits of her support.

    “Military service isn’t for our son. It isn’t for our kind of people,” she told him.

    “Parental consent is the toughest thing we face right now,” said Rivera’s boss, Maj. Michael Sherman, 36, commander of the recruiting battalion headquartered in Pittsburgh.

  • U.S. Army Hits July Recruiting Goal

    The good news? July makes it two successful months in a row for Army recruiting and, hey, that makes it a winning streak. The bad news? It doesn’t look good for fiscal year 2005.

    Most branches of the U.S. military achieved their recruiting goals in July, a Pentagon spokesman said.

    The active Army beat its recruiting goal for the second consecutive month, and the active Marine Corps, its reserves and the Air Force and Navy hit or exceeded their goals, spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters today. The Navy Reserve and Air National Guard missed their goals.

    The Army missed its goals in the four months from February through May, and with a total of 55,207 new recruits so far in fiscal 2005, it might not hit its target of 80,000 by Sept. 30. It hasn’t missed its goal since 1999.

    The service raised this year’s goal to 80,000 recruits from 77,000 to increase the number of combat brigades it can deploy.

    The July figures are “very encouraging,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow on defense issues at the Brookings Institution. “Given the recent spate of bad news from Iraq, and bad trends in recruiting data, on balance these figures are a relief – and a signal that, while serious problems and risks remain, there is no acute personnel crisis just yet,”

    Still, “the Army is hardly out of the woods,” O’Hanlon said. “It needs to make up deficits in the active force, not just make its original monthly goals and clearly its Guard and Reserve numbers are still not where they need to be at all.”

    […]

    The Army beat its July goal of 7,450 new recruits by 635, Whitman said. The Army in May raised the goal from 6,100 to make up for earlier misses. The Army Reserve missed its July goal of 2,585 recruits by 454 and the Army National Guard missed its goal of 5,920 by 1,208.

    The Army National Guard missed its recruiting goals in 18 of the 19 months between January 2004 and July 30, the Pentagon said today. The goal was exceeded in September 2004 by 27, according to Pentagon figures. The Army Reserves missed its goal from January through May before reaching them in June and July.

    “When you look at the Reserves and Guard, there is some work to be done,” Whitman said. Still, “it’s been a pretty good month in terms of recruiting,”

    […]

    “Recruiting will remain challenging for the remainder of fiscal 2005 and well into the future,” service Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker told the Senate Armed Services Committee in late June. Schoomaker, in written testimony, said the challenges include a strong economy and wartime deployments.

    To compound the issues of trying to recruit during a very healthy job market and an ongoing war, add the higher-than-expected active service retention rates and the difficulties of the reserve components is almost to be expected. Much of the new blood for the Guard and Reserve elements are expected to come from those leaving active duty. This is demonstrated by the strains shown in the Air National Guard and Naval Reserve, the first I’d heard of those components suffering recruiting issues. This article carries much of the same news but focuses more on the reserve numbers.

    There are many jobs in the military I would never want and, with the pressures being faced right now, recruiter is right up there at the top of the list. Trust me, it would’ve been pretty high on the list anyway.

  • U.S. Identifies Remains of Vietnam MIAs

    The long uncertainty has come to a close for a dozen families.

    When Army Sgt. Glenn E. Miller was listed as missing in action after a fierce gun battle in Vietnam in May 1968, his girlfriend figured he had been killed – even though there was never any proof.

    Thirty-seven years later, the remains of Miller, a Green Beret, and the 11 Marines who died alongside him have been identified and returned to the United States. It’s the largest group of MIAs identified from the Vietnam War, the Defense Department said Tuesday. There are still 1,815 other MIAs from the war.

    All the men’s families have met with representatives of the Marines and Army, said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s missing personnel office. Five of the soldiers will be buried by their families; the others will be buried as a group in Arlington National Cemetery in October.

    […]

    The soldiers were killed May 9, 1968, during a 10-hour battle on a football field-sized area along the Laotian border in South Vietnam, Greer said. They were part of an artillery platoon airlifted in to support a unit that was at risk of an attack from nearby North Vietnamese forces.

    Go read for the names of all recovered and the reactions of those who have been waiting for so many years. I can certainly understand the families who have decided to privately bury their returned loved ones, but I also find it especially fitting that seven of the twelve will be interred with the comrades they have been sharing ground with since I was a newborn.

    Thank you, gentlemen, for your shared sacrifices. Rest well, at home at last.

  • Talk to me, Goose

    Well, it certainly seems that I’ve lost my blogging edge of late. Jet wash, flat spin, got to punch out … okay, enough of that silly zoomie theme.

    Let’s turn to the blogroll for help.

    • First, it seems that the Associated Press has gotten caught with a little anti-war editorializing in the headline of a story that’s already tragic enough. Later versions of the story carried a more appropriate headline, but graphical evidence of the switcharoo was blogged by Captain Ed of Captain’s Quarters. Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee has even more.
    • The Mudville Gazette hit a little bump in the road today when Mrs. Greyhawk’s always-anticipated Dawn Patrol post was lost without saving. Later, Greyhawk decided to rub it in a little.
    • Chad at In the Bullpen analyzes the news of a new video tape from terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri.

      In all fairness, Zawahiri and Al Qaida threatened England before Blair was in power, but why let the facts get in the way of a rambling psychopath.

    • JohnL at TexasBestGrok finally resurrects his SF Babes Poll with a Stargate Atlantis contest. Previous winners can be drooled over at in his Gallery of SF Babes.
    • Did you know a tank has heavier armor than other military vehicles? In a fisking after my own heart, Paul at Wizbang! tears apart a “news” piece whose author seems surprised by that fact.

      So let me see if I understand about this new “weakness” that has been “exposed.”

      An Amphibious vehicle does not have the same armor as a tank. — I’ll type that again in case the shock of this sudden revelation might be too much to comprehend…. An Amphibious vehicle does not have the same armor as a tank.

    • Speaking of tanks, ol’ tanker Eric of Eric’s Grumbles Before the Grave ponders what it means to support the troops, beginning with the extremes.

      The left screams that “support the troops” means immediately ending a war they deem illegal and immoral, bringing the soldiers home, giving up everything they have accomplished and pretending that the world is now full of flowers and sweetness. The right, on the other hand, claims that “support the troops” means that you must blindly support the President, no matter what, in terms of foreign policy. Of course, neither side says this in this fashion, that is my interpretation of their insanity.

      There’s obviously plenty of room for debate in this area, and Eric is always up for a discussion in his comments section.

    • Over at Ace of Spades, Ace finds another reason to hate the European Union — cleavage control. You have to love any writing that includes the phrases “ale-trollop” and “lager-slut.”

  • Motivational Post for Men in Uniform

    Yeah, there apparently is some truth to the stories about the uniform and its effect on women.

    I recently posted that Seven Inches of Sense has shifted focus to a group blog for a handful of military girlfriends and spouses with the her Seven Inches of Service announcement.

    Just to cheer up the men currently in the service, as well as maybe provide a little motivation to others considering it, I thought I’d highlight a recent effort by the Seven Inches girls as they relay their thoughts on soldiers in uniform.

    Uniforms On The Bedroom Floor

    I had known Jimmy for a while before I actually saw him in his BDU’s. And even then, it was a picture one of his soldiers took. I wish I could describe to ya’ll the feeling that washed over me when I opened that picture. Let’s just say I am glad I was sitting because otherwise, there might have been a Joan-sized hole in my coffee table from falling through the glass on my way to the floor.

    Saying Goodbye In The Mornings

    The other thing I like to see Roy in is his dress blues. He has enough medals, that oh my goodness, send the firetruck the flames are that hot inside me.

    Gotta Love DCUs

    BDUs and DCUs: quite possibly the two best acronyms the army has to offer. I love a man in uniform! I have always liked men in uniform, but until Clark came along, I never fully understood the allure of camouflage. The first picture I ever saw of Clark was of him facing the camera, dressed in his BDUs, middle finger extended and a mischievous grin on his face…apparently, that was all it took. I was smitten.

    More Than Just A Uniform

    I only saw Humphrey in BDUs once, the weekend after I had gotten back from that trip and went down to visit him. It didn’t really phase me, as I still had no idea the kind of significance that uniform would later take on (and because, to me, a man in BDUs has nothing on one in DCUs). I only saw him in DCUs in pictures from Iraq, but one of the first ones I saw was of him in full “battle rattle,” and I just said, “damn.”

    Behold Thy Wondrous Uniform

    Still, before we went out again, common sense sent me online, where I managed to dig up some photos of him in uniform (thank you, Google). Damn. Not only had he been telling the truth, but he looked good.

    What Is It About A Man In Uniform?

    Those who know me understand that I’m not exactly for the entire concept of the military. So I am at a loss to find why seeing that boy in uniform just makes me feel so damned good. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I get weak in the knees every time I see that boy wearing his beret.

    Yummy

    *wipes drool*

    Yeah…he is so very sexy in those BDUs!!! There is just something about freshly starched BDUs, spit-shone boots, and a beret that arouses me everytime I see Dana in them. Is it the masculinity or the uniformity? For me personally, I think it’s a little bit of both.

    There, if you’re a man and don’t find those motivational, well, don’t bother telling me. And I won’t ask.

    I wonder what the girlfriend would think of me in uniform, as we started dated a little over a year after I left the service. Hmmm…

  • Calif. Guard Story and Major K.

    It looks like the investigations into some of the deployed California National Guard units, blogged about here last night, has had an impact on TCm blogroll member Major K.

    There are many things that I have to post about, but this is the elephant in the room that I must get out of the way. We have apparently found evil in our midst. I cannot comment on the on going investigation save to say that I am disgusted by the actions of a few that have tarnished the good work of so many others. I am not involved in this situation, and for that I am thankful. Morale has taken quite a hit, but the NightStalkers will bounce back, and be stronger and better for it. The Battalion is currently under a microscope, and many people have been relieved or moved. I, although not involved, got moved as well.

    Best wishes to Major K. as he soldiers on in a new role. He’s on target about the bad apples, and I fully expect the Army and the California National Guard to address the issues in question post-haste.