With the Middle East issues coming to blows, and the Naval Academy courts-martialing a Midshipman, I’m thinking it’s time to sort through our box of paradigms and toss out the old ones, and then get the new ones, which, more than likely will cost us some amount of effort, but…I think it’s necessary.

In a microcosm, the current Israeli-Hizbollah-Lebanon conflict provides a model of a new form of warfare. It’s not that other hadn’t thought of this, but it’s more that Hizbollah is showing you can run a military force (in conventional terms), without the overhead. Think about it: No uniforms to issue, then have to haggle with some lobbyists from the textile industry every few years and have to buy everyone (or cause them to buy) new stuff to wear. As far as base infrastructure, if you’re using someone’s house, they are paying the utility bills and doing the routine upkeep. You may have to help out if you plan to dig a tunnel through the area, but…it’s still on the cheap.

Like the VC, they stash weapons and ammo around, in a warehouse here, a home there, maybe hit up the local imam to use the utility room at the mosque, too. From a soldiers point of view, it’s not like they have to memorize their weapon serial number and have to account for it. In this case, the loss of capital assets has to be a bigger expense than the US Congress would allow, on a percentage basis…anyhow, Hizbollah is the proxy for Iran, which helps out on costs for the Iranians. I’m sure they aren’t putting money aside for their retirement.

Confusing…but, not if you think about it for a while. It does require that we (the rest of the world) re-look at international law and the (recently much misunderstood) Geneva Conventions. For that matter, I think the SCOTUS staff anf leadership need some serious back to school work about what constitutes a “treaty,” particularly in the INternational arean. It seems like not all that long ago, several of them thought using foreign law would be good for the us (another reason the re-evaluate how you think about the seating of judges), yet they seem to have completely missed the point on International Law.

Anyhow…and what about midshipman? Well, CDR Salamander has the lead, but a blog, The Countervailing Force, he found has blow by blow reports of the Courts-martial of Lamar Owens. Sick at the core. The woman gets immunity and spills her guts about a long list of behaviors, any ONE of which would roast you and your career as a Naval Officer, and the male is headed for possibly a Conduct Unbecoming and Officer charge, which….also gets you the boot from the officer corps. It appears when she said “no” after she had asked him to “come on down,” he did the right thing: He got up and left. So…picture a career down the tubes for two people raging hormones, which has come to be acceptable behavior in about every venue of civilian and military life, but one party took the directions and left, but the other party may still assume the office of the leader of young men and women in the Marine Corps.

It reminds me about a line from “Ghost Busters” about dogs lying down with cats, etc, etc, etc…

I received my copy of “No Hgher Honor” by Bradley Peniston last week.

I read it in two evenings, and would have liked to have stayed up the first night and make it all the way through. It is easy to read, well laid out, and with plenty, but not to much detail to chase off the non-Navy reader.

The basic “one liner” to describe the book is “the mining of the USS ROBERTS (FFG-58),” but that doesn’t do justice to the scope of the writing. The book is a multi-faceted discussion of many topical areas, all relating directly to the events of the day, when the bow lookout, Seaman Bobby Gibson, steadied his binoculars on some objects ahead of the ship in the Persian Gulf on April 14th, 1988.

Over the years, I have read two other books that have followed a similar format, for similar topics:

“Typhoon, The Other Enemy” by C. Raymond Calhoon. This book discusses the typhoon that the Third Fleet sailed through during the later part of WWII. Capt Calhoun was the skipper of one of the MAHAN Class DDs that survived the massive waves and winds. I discussed some lessons learned from that book here. As with “No Higher Honor,” it is engaging writing.

and:

“Sailors to the End” by George Freeman. This book is about the raging fires aboard the USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) in the summer of 1967.

All three of these books cover the genesis of the problems, from an engineering and leadership standpoint, gripping descriptions of the actual incidents from many first person accounts, and also the follow up inquiries and fallout that resulted. In this regard, “No Higher Honor” brings you to the mine strike with an extensive knowledge of the ship design, the mission requirements, and the command structure and philosphy. Once the mine was hit, the story details the timeline of events, and the desperate, but pre-planned responses carried out. In the aftermath of the event, Brad gives you the upper level geo-political response, which resulted in Operation Praying Mantis. He also provides the tactical details of that operation, followed by the subsequent return of the ship to the States and how the Bath Iron Works expertise put this ship back in operation.

I hope that is enough for you to want to get your hands on the book.

I also enjoyed this book because it was, in addition to the story described above, an excellent report on leadership, command priorities, and the value of training, training, and, yes, more training. For three years, I rode the ships of the Atlantic Fleet as the Type Commander’s Combat Systems Assessment Officer. I had the almost twice weekly opportunity to observe (mostly) and train (sometimes) “upper deck” crews. I believe I saw just about every way you could run a command in this area of ship readiness. I also was Engineer Officer with an operational deployment, a 10 month ROH (in Bath Iron Works) with the Light Off Exam (LOE) and the following trip to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for refresher training and an Operational Propulsion Plant (OPPE) equivalent.

Brad’s writing takes you inside the very foundations of the crew of the ROBERTS. Commander Paul Rinn set out a philosophy of excellence, with a center piece of damage control training. It paid off. The reading on this topic is useful for anyone bound for a pre-comm crew, specifically anyone in any leadership/supervisory position. It’s valuable reading for other leaders, for the context of re-establishing a functioning crew, prepared to take the fight on when it comes, because they trained for it in advance.

For those interested in ship design and engineering, the book is a great read about not only initial design decisions, but also how equipment issues can be dealt with under severe damage conditions.

For historians, there are points describing the role of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf region in the late 80’s, and also details on the tactical and strategic decisions and actions of the conflict between the US and Iran.

For anyone who wonders what life aboard a small surface combatant is like, during crew training operations, as well as on deployment, this is a book that open that window.

For people interested in the psychology of training and people under stress, there are bits and pieces here that will provide insight into the human condition.

For those who’s professional work deals in leadership, mostly for the military, but also for other large organizations with significant structure, I believe you won’t be disappointed with the material provided by “No Higher Honor.”

In closing, Brad’s book is written with enough, but not too much detail. As I read the book I could easily visualize the places, equipment, or situations he described, and know the technical detail is exacting.

For you readers in the Norfolk, VA area, Brad will be at Borders in Newport News July 29th, 2006.

The full calendar of book events is here.

Here is a link to more history on the USS SAMUEL B ROBERTS (DE-413) of WWII fame, the namesake of the modern day ROBERTS. The book that chronicled the Battle off Samar, “Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” by James Hornfischer, is another fine read.

Update 07/10/2006:

Neptunus Lex has a link to this post and has some comments on Operation Praying Mantis from his experiences.

Eagle1 has a link, and comments on a similar case of the USS WARRINGTON (DD-824) during the Vietnam War, except the outcome was not the same.

Cdr Salamander also linked here with this post.

For those of you who get here via other links, or random reading, all three of those blogs are worth your time to check out.

Also, Brad left me a note and reminded me the entire first chapter of the book is posted at this link.

Hopefully, the trackback to Mudville Gazette’s Open Post for 7/12/06 will work…

Click “more” to read about my FFG-7 background

Read the rest of this entry »

This link is the news report that indicates Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, TX and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, OR were not treated per the Geneva Conventions.

I’m sure the news is horribly upsetting for the families, and to every service member we have.

As the news broke today, I think I see something I hope does not become a trend. My thoughts (which I posted at Milblogs:

You know, this has been a long time coming. With all the whining and complaining about “GET OUT NOW!” and “SET A DEADLINE FOR WITHDRAWAL!” going on, the bad guys finally figured out a possible working tactic from 1993…

ala Black Hawk Down.

All that took for the “cut and run” to begin was to drag our troops dead bodies thru the streets while the locals desecrated the soldier’s remains. In this case, it appears the two men made it so they’d have to kill them, before they got yhem to a safe house and could do it in front of a video camera.

I think they figured out killing women and children, contractors and more recently, targeting jounalists wasn’t getting the buzz….so, they thought back on their own history of success and these two young men are the unfortunate ones. I bet they are hoping we will get out and do it in the next few weeks.

I think these guys don’t have a clue who they just messed with. Not that I think they will get the same as payback, but I think they’ll see people with “shoot in their eye” and who are focused like a laser beam on taking out the trash…and it just won’t be pretty for the bad guys.

Pray that strong stomachs and backbones prevail. To show a wave of national nausea at this point will just make more attempts at kidnapping the routine, until they can get the video taped for the world.

(End of my comments)

As the day went on and I was on the road, I recalled the name of a man who’s story has helped me realize my life is not so bad. I suspect these two enlisted troops but up a battle on the way to their end, much like Capt Lance Sijan, USAF, CMOH. Lance’s incredible story of a will that would not be broken is chronicled in “Into the Mouth of the Cat”. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it, for at the least, you’ll know for sure no matter how bad your day is, someone did have it worse.

On a night mission over Laos (as WSO), the bombs fuzed and exploded when they were relased, blowing the wings off the F-4C. His pilot didn’t survive, but Lance did. He was wounded badly (broken leg, dislocated shoulder and missing a part of his skull), yet managed to crawl through the Laotian jungle for 28 days, living off what he could find on the ground, before being found (and, yes, captured) by the NVA. They took him to a gaurd station along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and nursed him back to some degree of helath, whereupon, he took a rifle from his captor, beat him senseless, then took off into the jungle once more, using the rifle as a crutch. He was quickly captured, then sent by truck to Hanoi. He endured terrible beatings and torture, yet yelled back at his tormentors and refused to break. He died in captivity.

Between then and now: The NVA presented to the world that they treated our men graciously, war criminals that they were, an didn’t record for general worldwide viewing, the methods of torture used. Now, the Islamic terrorists try to show us such brutality that we will quit the fight, but I know you are aware of this.

I suspect Pfcs Menchaca and Tucker showed the same spirit to their captors. In this manner, I hope history has repeated itself.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.

Flash News!

The upcoming Computer Shopper cover needed an update before it hits the store and newstand shelves:

It makes you wonder if it’s worth getting a bombproof laptop if you’re going keep the notes on all your peeps there, doesn’t it?

Note: Sometimes life is too funny. I didn’t make up the entire cover (as you can tell, I don’t have Photoshop – but if you do, feel free to do justice to the laptop screen) – it came in the mail a few days ago, as I’m a subscriber. It’s not in the stores yet, nor on the website…but…check one of those two places in the next few days….

Cross posted at:
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Unpaid Ad (for my own post): While you’re here: Captain B, of the USMC! (OOOORAH!) has a great idea….get a full page ad in a major newspaper for the 4th of July, supporting the troops. Details here!

I struggled last night to determine a way you label the type of information we now deal with on a more and more frequent basis. The “news” items, in the MSM and in more informal forums such as the ‘net, suddenly appear. The little flags in the back of your brain are rasied…something stinks about it, and then the Army of Davids comes out of the woodwork to discredit/disprove the presented “story.”

Examples (because I’m trying to discuss concepts here, at least a few examples are needed to connect the dots):

• Dan Ra^ther’s Texas Air National Guard memo in fall 2004 (C’mon…Word XP in the early 70s?)
• Murder charges leveled at 1st Lt Ilario Pantano, USMC
• The roving bands of murderers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
• The Duke Lacrosse Team rape case (allegations by the first women are not being supported by the original statements by the second woman to the police that nothing happened and the credit card and phone records for one of the suspects)
• Everyone’s very special friend, Jesse McBeth, the Special Forces Ranger (who served a total of a few days in the Army before being discharged)
• The supposed Israeli shelling of Palestinian families on the beach (Palestinian explosives laid to deter landings on the beach?)
• The faked massacre by US Army troops where MSM outlets used a photo of a group of civilians executed by Islamic terrorists, captioned as thought the Army had sent or had allowed the troops to do that.
• A Variant form, part truth, part lies, but plenty enought to poison the well: The Haji Girl song. It’s really about terrorists killing their own family in an effort to kill US troops, not about US troops indiscriminately killing innocent Arabs

Common thread: Stories, quickly “tossed” at the public in a shrill manner, or with highly energized words. Some have been proven to have been hoaxes, others are looking very much like they will meet the same end….but…not before they are widely circulated around the globe. They are, much like a flashbang grenade, designed to take over your senses to thoroughly and long enough that you do not see the others slipping into position to secure you, hence the title of the post.

In thinking this through, I realized that the blogging community, so powerful in bringing reality to the table in many of these cases, can only react to such a forcible attack on the truth. In the meantime, the horses have left the barn. we are doing a great job of telling how the horses got loose, and that we surveyed the area, assessed the situation and determined, with cold and unflapable logic, that the gate needed closing and we have done that. The good news: No more horses will get loose. On the other side of the issue, we’d have to become omnicient in order to have posts up in advance, and imbedded electronics just aren’t that capable yet.

Impact statement of such tactics:
In the case of the proven to be a fake Army Special Forces Ranger, I wondered how the words of Jesse McBeth, dicussing how they were told to massacre innocent men, women and children were echoed in the days leter major release of the Haditah story about a week ago. I dislike conspiracy theories, but could his video taped interview have been purposely “placed” to add credibility to the soon to some re-reporting of an indiscriminate rampage by American troops? You know, just another little weight on the scale.

Once it hit the street, particularly on YouTube, you can bet those who already believed this type of behavior was happening, and those who never thought about it, but could call it logical when asked, got their hands on the files of the interview, and then forwarded them on to other like minded people and organizations. Same with the Ra^ther TXANG memo. The blogosphere jumped up, within an hour (for the TXANG memo) and called the niche experts to arms, yet the enemy was already racing from the area, the false message, delivered from “credible sources,” was planted. Like the storeis of the anarchy in New Orleans, and the absense of any governmental forces, they placed a perception, taken as truth even now half a year later, in the minds of those who have come to demand instant delivery of everything in society. Our need for instant gratification has driven the methodolgy for the delivery systems (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc). This format is now the accepted style, so we extrapolate that all reported is correct, we quickly, feeling the need to be “included” in all discussions on all topics, make sweeping judgments, more often than not devoid of any personal understanding and there you have it: “I BELIEVE!”

Taking the deliverer to task is still necessary, but the masses have moved on beyond the Da Vinci Code contreversies, and now are worried about reacting to tropical storms as though they were Category 5 hurricanes, while a state governor declares he’d rather be overly prepared then not doing enough. He, too, is driven by not being “Nagined” an losing his political stature, at the expense of cajoling many millions to leave home, but not before they empty the grocery stores shelves and gas station’s tanks, to then have to use cold hard cash for hotels, camp ground, and the stuff you buy when you get to your friend/relative’s house on high ground, to make amends for your intrusion.

That’s it:

Background Noise: SMASH! “BANG!”
You: “I CAN”T SEE! I CAN”T SEE!” (said loudly over the ringing in the ears)
Reporter/Newscaster: “Don’t worry! We’re here from the MSM to tell you what’s happening while you are temporarily blinded!”
“MARINES MASSACRE IN INNOCENT IRAQIS IN COLD BLOOD”
You: “NO! NOT OUR GUYS!”
R/N: “OH, yes…I know you don’t want to believe it, but…Jesse McBeth said he did it with the Special Forces Rangers, as ordered by his superiors!”
Y: “Sounds fishy to me.”
R/N: “Nope, it’s true. Jack Murtha (who was highly decorated in Vietnam and don’t you dare question him on his patriotism) Said they are MURDERERS! and he was one of them once.”
Uncle Jimbo/Matt/Smash/Bill Roggio/Steve Shippert: “Hey! That R/N is full of crap and besides, we need to let the system run it’s course before we start yelling about firing squads.”
R/N: “Don’t listen to those whining bloggers. They just wish they got our salaries, so they’ll try to make us out as liars.”

I think you can extend and revise without objection where that type of discussion has gone in actual cases.

Some amount of mental energy will go into this this weekend, trying to see what the counter may be. I think a good start will be the full page ad in a major newpaper on July 4th. Putting forth the good done, and real “support the troops” messages will begin to push back, but I’m sure there’s more that can be done.

Comments anyone? (is this mic on?)

Welcome LGF Lizards….You may fire when ready (comments are open).

Note: Our wounded service members need some help…see details on Valour-IT funding laptops with voice recognition software here.

Thanks for your considertaion of this great project!

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The devil is in the details. While some still are wondering why Osma bin Laden wasn’t a target of greater priority, a guest post at Black Five by the resident retired SEAL pointed me to an Army Times article that has some real detail to it.

Thank, Froggy, for cluing me in.

To begin with, it was the SEALs who were having the party for the ZarqMan, bu the DELTA boys had been hot on the trail and the article discusses the near miss of capturing Zarqawi by DELTA, supported by Rangers in a Tom Clancy style read. I bet the Ranger LT is sitting in his quarters, kicking himself in the butt for not letting the M240 gunner do his job, So much for that medal for you, LT….

On the other hand, I’d say when the end did come for Zarqawi, he was well aware that the boys from the Great Satan’s neighborhoods and cities were dead set on being the ones to help him to the hereafter.

Once you get past the story of the capture and the three suicide bombers, then the article discusses Zarqawi’s operational emphasis towards creating a force with the ability to conduct standing maneuver type operations, not merely terrorist style attacks here nad there. The hint that he was soliciting more foreign help and personnel from Iran, particularly at this point in time, is scary indeed. It does indicate he was doing reasonably well as keeping the insurgency alive, and had the possibility of growing it, but….not without caling for resources from outside Iraq. The good news in that is he had lost the support of the Iraqis.

Since the early morning hours of 6/8/2006, the world, and Iraq, are much safer places as a result. How did we get al-Zarqawi? We all did…

Cross posted at: It’s That Time Again, Boys And Girls – OTA

Note: Our wounded service members need some help…see details on Valour-IT funding laptops with voice recognition software here.

Thanks for your considertaion of this great project!

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Official CENTCOM video here…

I nominate this movie as the movie of the day.

Thank you, Viper pilots, for your finely honed air to ground delivery skills. I bet you had to confirm/repeat back 493 times that you had the right target….so thanks for your patience.

How ’bout these lyrics: “500 lbs once, 500 lbs twice…I bet that sure made him feel nice!”

Update: Maybe these lyrics: “500 lbs once, 500 lbs twice…so how about the rest of you guys playing nice?”

Also: Throughout the day, there have been hints of someone inside al-Z’s organization ratting him out. I can see a few possibilities that make this credible. ONe certainly could be he was getting too full of himself and from the inside, they weren’t able to have a coup, to let another rise up in his place. So, how do you do it? Like the stories of war from early times, act nice to your enemey and convey to them that you can help them get the “bad guy (of the day).” That leaves the way open for them to move up into the power vaccum.

Or….consider how successful the world has been in cutting off funding sources for the insurgents. Could a conversation have happened something like this:

Osama: “Hello, Zarq-man? It’s me from somewhere on the border of Pakistan.”

al-Zarqawri: “HEY! OBL! What’s happening?”

OBL: “Zarq, you know how we’ve been squeezed for funds lately, with those infidels stealing the money from our bank accounts, right?”

al-Z: “I sure do…you know it sucks when you get unexpected million dollar cuts in operation budget, when some banker gets all righteous.”

OBL: “You’re dead on…and to think I have to deal with all of al-Qaeda cuts, not just the regional ones you have to take…anyhow, I was thinking last night, then I had this dream, when I woke up, jerking around like an epilectic, and I realized I had a vision from Allah. He said since the Great Satan’s boys (and girls) are offering $25M for you, we could really rebound from our current budget crunch if they were to catch you. How’s this sounding to you so far?”

al-Z: “Let me get this straight: One of my boys rats me out, and the infidels catch me and send me to Club GITMO, and you pocket the reward money. Am I understanding this right?”

OBL: “Oh, yeah. Thant’s what I like about you, you catch on to complex issues quickly. So, how soon can we pull this off?”

al-Z: “Well, it sucks to be me right now. Had you considered you being the one turned in? They are offering more for you than me.”

OBL: “You’re been a good friend, but, to be honest, I’m a little concerned about the bad press you got us when you delivered those 17 heads to the hospital. That was really bad PR. I think you’re liking the butcher role too much.”

al-Z: “Yeah, I can see your point. Give me a few days to set up a safe house and a few innocent civilians to hang out with me. I figure you can get another bounce, and keep that Iranian slacker out of the news cycle for a little while, if they find dead babies in the rubble of my safe house.”

OBL: “Good man. And, think of the fact that you’ll get the 72 raisins before me. Heck, at the rate this war is going, you might want to get a head start on me soon.”

So there you have it, the Z Man was killed because of the budget shortages and over runs…a scary thought indeed, and to be realistic, maybe not too far off. I’m sure $25M will help the planning for a few months….

Get to Iowahawk for the post death Zarq Man AAR, and also another one at GM’ Corner!

From a post late last night on Little Green Footballs titled “Progessives Supporting the Troops Again”has comments from an attendee of the meeting with John Kerry at an “off the record meeting” with Daily Kos supporters, where they got to see a new movie “The Road to Guantanamo.”

Extract from the “movie review” by Hollywood Liberal:

This film illustrates in crystal clear detail why the U.S. military needs to recruit very dumb, totally uneducated, and mostly southern cracker soldiers who are already racist bastards who have never left their hometowns and believe all the garbage they are taught in school about how we are the good guys, and everything we do is just and right. The Army can then brainwash them to treat other human beings in such a grotesque and inhuman manner.

Sad…

Contrast this kind of thought process with the recently well written commentary by CDR Salamander on politicizing the military and as further discussed by Chapomatic.

A long time ago (now) in my universe which seems so far away (removed by 20+ years), I recevied training in Soviet Doctrine. The instructors were very knowledgeable regarding the attachment of Soviet political officers to virtually every unit, and how the indoctrination into Communist Party thought took primacy over tactical training.

With our somewhat justified arrogance, we felt quite superior in our ability to train for the fight first and then there were some other details to be discussed. I read the news these days, and see we have become much like those we won a major war against, the war to save people from the subjugation under socialist totalitarian rule.

Not to say there are not some issues that needed to be addressed, but somewhere along the line, we have forgotten that most everyone who has served, or is serving in the US Military, are good and decent people with fine moral compasses that work well. We also seem to have forgotten that bad things happen, but the normal condition is good, and the very abnormal conditions don’t show up very often in our society, and therefore within our Military as a whole.

The society of “me” has taken over and the team mentality has been left for professional sports it seems, if you do see any evidence of it reported. In actuality, that isn’t the truth, for major natural, and not so natural disasters in this country and even outside of our borders, show that Americans can roll up their sleeves and collectively get their hands dirty to “git ‘r done.”

The MSM/HBM would have you believe otherwise, not by telling you that teamwork has died, but negelecting to ever report it often, possibly hoping you’ll forget and then filter your other decisions through data points of what is being reported.

Back at the ranch the purpose of this post:

Because of an incident, or which little reality has been sorted out just yet, in the manner in which any of us, being in the boots of the Marines and Corpsman, would certainly want to be, the Marines (and I’ll predict the Army will soon “follow in their wake”) will all get “core values” training.

My response: Great. Just. Flippin. Great. Great idea: Lets stop everything we are doing, and tell those who had nothing to do with this, that they need to be mindful of a set of standards that has been successfully serving them for years. No doubt, some handsome checks will be written to some egghead, never wore a uniform types, to pull from pop current cultural info just what it is Marines need to know about how to react in battle, or around civilians. Just what’s needed: Pile more money on people to create a “cirriculum” to be presented (no doubt with a strong warning to do it by reading it exactly), so the Marines can then tell the people of the nation “we told them!”

Hey! Note to Generals: You’re supposed to lead, not react. Marines in an ambush are to react. Get a clue and tell the world your Marines are already the most well versed warriors, in terms of how to handle a war where the enemy has no flag, no uniform, uses actual civilians as ablative shielding and “PR” fodder, has been known to purposely set up multiple IEDs to continue attacks, etc, etc, etc, in the entire world, if not the best versed in all of the history of mankind in conflict….Don’t shield murderers, but don’t you dare fry the innocents just to keep the public opinion polls up for the war and the President.

So, to wrap up, back to the Soviets. They had their brain washing sessions and had to toe the party line. The consequences were not just being passed over for the next promotion, but they could be far more terminal. There are a variety of issues in the past decade that have caused us to halt when one person, or small unit, goes “off the reservation,” be in in dating realtionships, community “get togethers,” sexual encounters, or just because someone got their feeling hurt over a word they didn’t like, and use up valuable man hours that could be used to train warfighters to be even better.

What a message we send to the troops in the field? Maybe something like this:

Generals of Marines: “We will not have you embarassing us!”

Troops in the Open: “What did we do now?”

GOMs: “Well, we know it wasn’t you directly, but…(note the “but” – “disregard everything I said before “but” but) if one did it, then one more of you may do it and we want to make sure you understand not to do that.”

TsIO: “It wasn’t us, it was a few guys somewhere else.”

GOMs: “Not to worry, we can’t afford another publicity attack like this again, so, this is an order: Sit down, listen to the training we are sending out. report up the chain of command attendance, and if some don’t receive training on the appointed day, follow up and report completion of training to all hands. Make service record entries to document attendance. And, in case it wasn’t clear, we do mean this is ‘All Hands’ training, with NO EXCEPTIONS!”

TsIO: “Aye, aye, sir!”

The more I think about it, the more I realize this is becoming a very lawyer-like approach to damage control, and more like the way civilians, private sector businesses handle things: Give the employee a book/manual/seminar. Write down they went. If they do anything to violate that, hands have been washed in advance, and management can declare: “It wasn’t my fault!” It helps in keeping law suits away in the civilian sector….

I personally was involved in one such follow up, whcih I intend to blog about during the anniversary of the time frame when it occured. Suffice it to say I travlled the entire East Coast fleet, to include chasing some ships as far as the Red Sea, just to be able to file reports saying “that will never happen again” when it was one ship that failed and killed people in an exercise. It was a fairly costly trip for four of us, not to mention the four jobs that had to be covered by others for a period of almost three months.

We have become, in this case, our former enemy. I guess I’ll continue to wonder at what is causing us to continue to adopt the methods and procedures of failure….

The solution: Get the general and flag officers to let the American people know, and the President, that it will be handled properly, in accordance with the UCMJ, and that our military is well equipped to do the right thing. Oh, yeah, people with stars on their collars: Act like you believe in abd trust your people. It was you who trained them….

Note to the more refined readers: One “label” above was picked for the symbolism, not by accident…

Fianl note to BGCol Karpinski: Shut up and shit down. You’re not in the loop or the game. You failed, take it like and officer who was given great responibility. Many have been in your shoes, so quit whining.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.

Disgusting and that’s not strong enough a word for this blatant effort by the Islamic terrorists to make even more people cringe and turn against the war in Iraq. In fact, they want you to step back from the entire GWoT. The only problem is as you step back, they step forward.

I have regularly asked (in a virtual rhetorical format via this blog) just where are all the NOW women, and I now call to the male “feminists” as well. What’s your response to the throat slitting of Atwar Buhjat?

At some point, you whiny liberal, “peace loving” people, I have bad news for you:

If you persist in your efforts to derail the free world from taking this group of criminals and sadists down, who have not perverted their religion, they are just strict adherents of the teaching of Mohammed, one day your back will be against the wall and your throat will be next.

How ironic, you call for peace, it is peace through weakness. These people were breed in a part of the world where to show a lack of strength is not only losing face, but also designates you as a target for attack. You have to study the cultural issues before you pontificate from your safe place, having grown up in a society that is full of compassion for those around them and that doesn’t resort to killing anyone who sends a signal that they are a threat to the current person in power.

Most unfortunately, you cannot stop improperly used strength by having none of your own. It’s a nice thought that one day we could, but while the president of Iran threatens to build nuclear weapons, and use them for no other reason then to destroy a culture he has been raised to blame for his own countries ills (sound familiar? Yep, same argument Mr. Hitler used to get into power in Germany in the 1930s….study it…it is happening again), I’d think you’d be buying plane tickets to go to hold up your daiseys in Teheran and also Sadr City, but there haven’t been any news reports of a mass migration of “peace loving people” in the news. What’s wrong? Afraid you’ll be carted off to prison and your lawyer friends won’t be able to get you out on bail before you are tortured (maybe with an electric drill) before you are summarily beheaded or shot in cold blood?

Go ahead…keep it up, they’ll be sure to thank you by shaking your hands for your efforts to defeat George Bush, and any other president who will do the hard and right thing to protect us, before they place a hand around you, in order to keep you still while they take their 8″ blade to your jugular arteries.

Now, a solution, for I hate “idea men” who can only complain, but not give you a way to fix it:

Your only hope, in the long run, is to not only support the troops, but to support the war. Thank the young men and women who daily sit 6000 miles from their family just for you. They may not know you, but they know you love freedom as they do, and they have the courage to raise their right hand and make the commitment for all of us.

In the short term, get your letter writing campaign to the terrorist leaders and the president of Iran. Tell them to stop, and boycott their products and services (oops! Pardon me, but just what is it they produce other than death, slavery and mahem?). How about booking your plane tickets to Israel, where you can be human shields to prevent another major event of genocide.

As for the women of the world, and Alan Alda, time to (SU)³!

Little Green Footballs reports the same story, but the comments on posts there are always good reading.

H/T: Mudville Gazette.