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Military Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on October 23, 2015 12 Comments
The Pentagon has identified 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler of Roland, Oklahoma as the first US service member to die in the ground fight against ISIS. Wheeler was part of a mission aimed at rescuing captives held at an Islamic state compound in northern Iraq. Officials received intelligence that led them to believe that the captives faced imminent mass execution, prompting the Kurdish Regional Government to request the raid. US special forces teamed up with the peshmerga (the Kurdish regional militia) and freed 69 hostages during the approximately 2 hour-long mission. According to Reuters, US officials have said that special forces' involvement in the mission was not tied to suspicion that there were any Americans amongst the captives; instead, US forces acting as advisors were "sucked in" to the battle when the Kurds came under heavy fire. More from Fox News:

Posted by Miriam Elman on October 20, 2015 8 Comments
In a previous post, I noted that the U.S.-Israel military relationship remains solid. But back in 1948, America failed to support Israel militarily when the fledgling Jewish state needed it most. In fact, as former Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross writes in his important new book, the U.S. government was downright hostile to Israel in its early years. Ross, who now serves as the William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and as Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, notes that nearly all of President Harry S. Truman’s major foreign policy advisors saw the emergence of Israel as “doom and gloom for the United States.” At the time, this was also the predominant view within America's national security establishment. Support for the Jewish state was considered of “no strategic benefit.” The fear (totally unfounded, as Ross points out) was that it would come “at enormous cost to our relations with the Arabs.” In a chapter devoted to the Truman presidency, Ross describes how most leading U.S. national security officials at the time were on a “mission against the Jewish state.” Then senior members of the State Department, the Pentagon, and the CIA maintained a “hostile posture toward the Jewish state and continued to see only risks associated with U.S. support for it.” Most also thought it highly “improbable that the Jewish state would survive over any considerable period of time.” So the consensus was that siding with the Arabs was the safer bet. To be sure, as Ross rightly remarks, “Truman was a good friend of Israel.” But the “actual support he provided was limited.”

Posted by Miriam Elman on October 18, 2015 6 Comments
For years we've been reporting how President Obama has been trying to insert as much daylight as possible between the United States and Israel. But the reality is that the American-Israeli “special relationship” will weather the storm of this “needlessly combative” administration. Israel is wildly popular among the American public. Americans recognize the shared values and common interests that bind the two countries together. A congressional majority understands the threats Israel faces from the region’s oppressive dictatorships which routinely call for Israel’s destruction, and from political and religious leaders who incite their people to murder Jews.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 05, 2015 11 Comments
Obama's goal of reversing the ban on transgender troops serving openly in the military seems likely to manifest itself next year.  Reports suggest that the transgender ban is slated to end in May, 2016.  In keeping with the Obama policy and perhaps angling himself to run to the left of Hillary and to the right of Sanders, Joe Biden announced Saturday that he backs transgender troops openly serving. The New York Times reports:
Vice President Joe Biden is throwing his unequivocal support behind letting transgender people serve openly in the military, as the Obama administration considers whether and when to lift the longstanding ban. Biden's declaration at the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner Saturday goes further than anything the Obama administration has said before, evoking memories of when Biden outpaced President Barack Obama in endorsing gay marriage. . . . . Biden is considering running for president. He says transgender rights are "the civil rights issue of our time."
During the same dinner, Biden applauded gay rights activists for "changing the course of America." The Hill reports:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 20, 2015 26 Comments
Last weekend, I wrote about Secretary of the Navy Mabus rejecting the Marine Corps study that showed that units with women underperform when compared to all-male units. This week, the Marine Corps is pushing back and opening up a debate about whether or not Mabus can veto Marine Corps decisions.  The Marine Times reports:
The Marine Corps is expected to ask that women not be allowed to compete for several front-line combat jobs, inflaming tensions between Navy and Marine leaders, U.S. officials say. The tentative decision has ignited a debate over whether Navy Secretary Ray Mabus can veto any Marine Corps proposal to prohibit women from serving in certain infantry and reconnaissance positions. And it puts Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Marine Corps commandant who takes over soon as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at odds with the other three military services, who are expected to open all of their combat jobs to women.
This is of particular interest because while Mabus is a politician, General Dunford is career military and about to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs . . . . with the power, presumably, to approve the waiver that he's just submitted as Marine Corps commandant.  The Marine Times continues:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 13, 2015 39 Comments
The military is gearing up to meet the 2012 directive of then-Defense Secretary Panetta that women be integrated into infantry forces by January, 2016 unless exemptions are obtained by the end of this month. Women, however, are not doing particularly well in the training programs: of the 29 who attempted the Marine Corps' Infantry Officer Course, none were successful; only 34% of women who signed up for infantry training in the Marine Corp finished successfully; and only 12 women have passed the Army's prerequisite Ranger Training and Assessment Course, two of whom went on to become Army Rangers in August of this year. The Navy SEALS announced that it, too, will be open to women, though none so far are reported to have applied.  Watch:

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 08, 2015 15 Comments
Since his return to the U.S. in 2014, there's been much speculation over which charges (if any) Bowe Bergdahl, alleged military deserter and former Taliban captive, would have to face. Tough criticism came from some of his fellow servicemen who believe Bergdahl is a deserter. A new report from the Associated Press via the Houston Chronicle says that Bergdahl will face one charge that's extremely rare:
Military selects rarely used charge for Bergdahl case Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan. Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case. "I've never seen it charged," Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army's top lawyer, said of the misbehavior charge. "It's not something you find in common everyday practice in the military."

Posted by Amy Miller on September 07, 2015 20 Comments
From the "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" Department: West Point's annual plebe pillow fight ended in actual bloodshed, broken bones, and 24 concussions. According to West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, Jr., the majority of the plebes participating in the traditional fight, which took place on August 20, kept to the spirit of the thing---meaning they didn't arm themselves with the white sale equivalent of a medieval flail. More from Fox News:
Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker told the newspaper the annual fight is organized by first-year students as a way to build camaraderie after a grueling summer of training to prepare them for plebe life. He said upperclassmen overseeing the fight required cadets to wear helmets, but video shows many did not. Some cadets swung pillowcases believed to be packed with their helmets. The Times noted one freshman posted on Twitter: "4 concussions, 1 broken leg, 2 broken arms, 1 dislocated shoulder, and several broken ribs. That’s one hell of a pillow fight. #USMA19." Kasker said all cadets have since returned to duty. None of the participants have been punished.
Just watch the video---you know you want to:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 27, 2015 15 Comments
Joining Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. Tim Scott at a Presidential town hall forum in South Carolina Thursday, Governor Rick Perry took questions ranging from entitlement reform to national security. During a particularly emotional moment, Governor Perry went off script to discuss his deep-rooted feelings about military service. When asked by an audience member if he would close Gitmo, Perry answered, "listen, I'd keep Guantanamo Bay open. The bad guys don't need be over here. This president does not know how to, and I'm just going to editorialize here just a little bit -- this president does not know how to connect the dots. If he did, we would not be negotiating with Iran today. If he did, we would have the Castro brothers on their knees in Cuba, but we threw them a lifeline." Perry continued, "this president does not understand, either he doesn't have the experience of how foreign policy works, or he is so philosophically out of tune with the vast majority of Americans." When the conversation turned to Iraq, Perry's demeanor changed.

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 08, 2015 15 Comments
If you're one of the people who think it's madness to prohibit the carrying of firearms in military workplaces, there's some good news developing. The U.S. Navy is planning to place armed guards at reserve centers. NBC News reports:
Chattanooga Shooting: Navy Plans Armed Guards for Reserve Centers After a gunman killed four Marines and a sailor at a Navy Reserve Center in Chattanooga last month, the Navy plans to station armed guards at all of its reserve centers across the country, NBC News has learned. An email sent to Naval Reservists nine days after the attack, and obtained by NBC News, says "VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY!" to provide 45 days of "armed sentry watchstander duty" at 53 "NOSCs," or Navy Reserve Centers, beginning Aug. 17, and also asks for volunteers to provide a full year of armed sentry duty at 70 reserve centers starting Oct. 17.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 23, 2015 7 Comments
The Wall Street Journal is reporting via defense officials that Ankara has agreed to allow the United States to launch air strikes against ISIS from the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. This is a departure from previous Turkish policy, which until now only allowed drone launches from the base. No Turkish aircraft will be used in any strikes launched by the US. Reuters reports that a deal between President Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan may have been reached as early as Wednesday; White House press secretary Josh Earnest told the media today that the two leaders have reached an agreement to "deepen" cooperation in the fight against ISIS, but didn't go into details. Turkey's concerns about the violence in Syria go beyond the threat ISIS poses to the rest of the world. Until now, Turkish officials have refused to lead on the Islamic State pushback, citing concerns that merely taking out ISIS will not quash the violence caused by intra-Syrian conflict. Ankara has advocated for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in exchange for a larger role.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 22, 2015 10 Comments
The 2016 elections will boil down to cause, and effect---and when it comes to foreign policy, the Democrats will have much to answer for, especially when it comes to the rise of ISIS. The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, which began in 2010, remains one of Obama's more controversial foreign policy orders to date. The war wasn't popular, but then again, neither was the idea of letting go of a country we fought so hard to clean out and control before that country was ready to stand on its own two feet. Still, Obama persisted, and the rest is history: large parts of Iraq crumbled, and the chaos gave rise to the Islamic State's brutal, terrifying brand of terrorism. Outgoing Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno spent more time in Iraq than any other U.S. General; he was an architect of the Surge, and spent half his time overseas as a top commander---and he says the chaos we're seeing today could have been prevented if only the Administration had agreed to follow recommendations regarding the pace of troop withdrawals, saying, “If we had stayed a little more engaged, I think maybe it might have been prevented... I've always believed the United States played the role of honest broker between all the groups and when we pulled ourselves out, we lost that role.” Via Fox News:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 21, 2015 8 Comments
Today Britain's Crown Prosecution Service revealed that it has charged two Muslim relatives with plotting to commit terror attacks against US military members stationed in the United Kingdom. Junead Khan, 24, and his uncle Shazib Khan, 22, were arrested after authorities discovered that the two men were planning on traveling to Syria with the goal of joining Islamic State fighters there. More via Fox News:
Sky News reported that the men were arrested a week ago in a joint operation between Bedfordshire Police and the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorist Command Unit and that armed police were involved in one of the arrests. Police say searches were carried out at two addresses in the Luton area as part of the operation which forms part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. "We have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Junead Khan and Shazib Khan with the intention of committing acts of terrorism," said Deborah Walsh, of the Crown Prosecution Service. "It is alleged that Junead Khan and Shazib Khan had been planning on travelling to Syria to join the proscribed organization Islamic State in Levant.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 19, 2015 6 Comments
Despite being shot multiple times, Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford survived the 2009 attack at Fort Hood. He was recently interviewed by Charles Payne of the FOX Business Network and offered some sober commentary on the shooting in Tennessee. Tom Tillison of BizPac Review has more:
‘War is here on US soil': Ft. Hood victim says Obama WH needs to get head out of a** The White House has its head where it doesn’t belong. Saying the “war is here on U.S. soil,” a victim of the 2009 Fort Hood attack by Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan described the killing of four U.S. Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Thursday as “an act of terror.” He said the threat won’t go away until it is eliminated... “They need to get their heads out of the fourth point of contact and call it what it is,” Lunsford said of the Obama administration. The “fourth point of contact” is Airborne military jargon for the derriere, which is a somewhat more polite way of telling Obama to get his head out of his **s.
Watch the video below:

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 15, 2015 15 Comments
According to a document leaked to the Huffington Post, over 200,000 veterans waiting for healthcare have already died:
Leaked Document: Nearly One-Third Of 847,000 Veterans In Backlog For VA Health Care Already Died WASHINGTON -- More than 238,000 of the 847,000 veterans in the pending backlog for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs have already died, according to an internal VA document provided to The Huffington Post. Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta and a past whistleblower on the VA's failings, provided HuffPost with an April 2015 report titled "Analysis of Death Services," which reviews the accuracy of the VA's veteran death records. The report was conducted by staffers in the VA Health Eligibility Center and the VA Office of Analytics. Flip to page 13 and you'll see some stark numbers. As of April, there were 847,822 veterans listed as pending for enrollment in VA health care. Of those, 238,657 are now deceased, meaning they died after they applied for, but never got, health care.
You can read the entire document here, but as the Huffington Post mentioned, be sure to see page 13. (A screen cap of that page is featured at the top of this post.)

Posted by Amy Miller on July 14, 2015 24 Comments
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that he is taking steps to reverse a longstanding ban on open military service by transgender people. Carter said that he has asked a panel of senior Pentagon officials to study the affect transgender service members will have on military procedure, as well as what it will take to adapt current procedures to accommodate the new policy. More via CNN:
Carter made the announcement in a memo outlining a pair of directives to both study the effect of transgender service men and women over the next sixth months, as well as adding the new protocol that any personnel diagnosed with gender dysphoria or who identify as transgender will have their paperwork for dismissal from the military reviewed at the highest personnel levels in DOD. "At a time when our troops have learned from experience that the most important qualification for service members should be whether they're able and willing to do their job, our officers and enlisted personnel are faced with certain rules that tell them the opposite," Carter wrote in his statement. "Moreover, we have transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines - real, patriotic Americans - who I know are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach that's contrary to our value of service and individual merit."
Get prepared for a blitz, because the mainstream media is excited:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 27, 2015 10 Comments
One one hand, it is comforting to know President Obama can target the enemy and use American resources to counter it. On the other hand, it is very disturbing when that enemy is . . . climate change. Obama is acting upon his delusion that the biggest global security threats involve weather patterns and he's now calling on American troops to respond.
A recent Government Accountability Office report examined the Defense Department’s role in the Arctic, which increasingly will include “monitoring the changing Arctic conditions,” such as ice levels. The administration contends that changing ice levels in the Arctic could require additional U.S. military presence in the region, justifying the need for the Pentagon to commit significant time and resources to monitoring the effects of climate change.

Posted by Amy Miller on June 21, 2015 0 Comments
After the evil, inhumane week we've had, I think we could all use a little humanity. Since I can remember, coverage of American involvement in conflict overseas has focused 99% on the strategy, violence, and collateral damage. Almost no attention is given to the after-effects of war and to what happens to soldiers when they come home from the battlefield. It took a nationwide scandal---and more than one veteran death---for the country to recognize the fact that coming home from war means coming home to battle a bureaucracy that has failed the very people it was created to protect. Chief Warrant Officer-3 Romulo "Romy" Camargo knows what it feels like to come home from the battlefield a changed man. In September of 2008, Camargo was left paralyzed from the neck down after a bullet hit him in the back of the neck during an ambush in Zabul province, Afghanistan. Doctors weren't optimistic about a full recovery, but Romy began to push through. He got off the ventilator, began to recuperate, and after 18 months, was discharged from the hospital. More from WaPo:
Being 18 months in an in-patient hospital, some people get institutionalized and they don’t want to leave. So when I left, the first day I came to the house I was like, ‘Whoa.’ And then I realized, it’s a new day. Let’s get up and do something.”
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