Editorial: One Grunt's Opinion On Changes to Military Retirement

I have been laying off writing of anything about the proposed changes to the military retirement system being talked about because I realize for the vast majority of Americans they could really care less, and in their single-minded focus of making everything fair game honestly believe that changes can be made with no harm. There is another very small minority of far left that feel if this will further weaken the American warmaking machinery then they are all for it. They are not driven by any fiscal sense of responsibility, but rather an irrational hatred of the military.

With that in mind, I wanted to try and acquaint readers of some aspects of military life that while they may be aware of, do not truly appreciate the full consequences of, and why among the benefits military personnel look forward to, the retirement plan is probably the most important.

Right up front let me say that if you are enlisted and do your 20 and retire you are not going to be able to live off of it. I retired in 1999 and my annual retired pay is about $14K. Not exactly what you would call extravagant.

So what did I have to do to earn this windfall? For starters I endured low pay, long hours, frequent separations and the attention of folks who really didn't think too highly of those of us in uniform and would from time to time try to put a .30 caliber punctuation mark on those feelings.

When I took my final physical upon leaving the Army they pumped me full of dye and did an x-ray. It was revealed that I had a grand total of 2 bones which showed no signs of damage or breakage. The right shoulder blade and the left femur. Every other bone in my body at some time in the previous 20+ years had either been broke or damaged enough that it showed up on this x-ray. Granted, a lot of them were what is called stress fractures like the collar bones and the toes. I have knees with no cartilage and joints that aren't. I wear the scars of knife marks, shrapnel, and bullet grazes. And all of this was accomplished while serving during a period when we were at peace. Well except for Grenada, Haiti, Panama, Somalia, East-West Germany, Desert Storm ... you get the point.

The physical toll is just one aspect. There is the mental toll not only on the service member but for anybody foolish enough to become a part of their life. It is the 2 am phone call with a voice on the other end informing you that your unit is on alert and you have less then 2 hours to get to base, get your unit organized and ready to deploy. Even before you hang up the spouse has turned the TV to a news network to try and glean some information about what little corner of the world has suddenly gone to shit and the only answer is the United States. You go to the bathroom for a quick brush of the teeth and to shave because you don't know when the next time is you will see running water. You grab your bags, already packed, and embrace for what may be the last time and as you close the door she is left with her fears, knowing it may be days or even weeks before she hears from you again.

If your children have the television station numbers memorized for the cable news outlets by the time they are 8, then you know of which I speak. Thank goodness for DoD schools too, where when asked what your daddy does for a living and the response is "kill people," nobody bats an eye and knows right away that he is in the Infantry. Or if they say "jump out of airplanes," then they know he ain't right. When they are asked where is your dad you ask them for a globe to point it out and the inevitable answer to when is he going to be back is a shrug of the shoulders.

If you aren't awakon out of a good night's sleep it may be the orders you received assigning you overseas. An assignment that does not allow you to bring your family for the year you will be gone.

So for any of you that want to use that shared sacrifice argument I am waiting to hear your side. For those that think being in the military is just a 9-5 job where you get to hop down to a bar after a hard day of chasing jihadis, dodging bullets or defusing IED's, I really look forward to your tales of how writing 10 pages of C++ code compares. I'm sure somebody can tell me how an 8-hour shift on your feet at a retail store equates to launching multimillion dollar aircraft off of the deck of an aircraft carrier. Who wouldn't trade a job selling car parts for loading 500 pound ordnance onto the wing of an aircraft.

There is very little that service in the military guarantees you. One is that if you survive today you get to do it all over again tomorrow, and the second is the 20 year retirement. Health care bit the dust long ago, and while the program is still active we pay for it just like ya'll. Lower premiums sure, but the copays are about the same.

If they mess with the military retirement in the manner they are proposing they may never recover from effects in terms of military readiness. It is not a regular job and to try and make those comparisons is both foolish and foolhardy.

Barack Orders Pentagon To Reduce Budget

Not quite the 25% Barney Frank was looking for but it definitely tells you what his priorities are and how he will pursue the war on terror. Late tonight comes word that he has directed the Pentagon to reduce it's budget for 2010 by at least 10%.

So while he can spend trillions to combat STD's, build golf courses, and prop up Hollywood, national security seems to be low on the priority list. Liberals like Code Pink no doubt are going to be thrilled by this turn of events.

A senior US defense official tells Fox tonight that the Joint Chiefs have been asked to cut the Pentagon's budget request for FY 2010 defense budget by more than 10 percent - about 55 billion dollars.

Sleep tight America, there may not be too many days left or nights that you can.

Good News! 'Sensitive' Nuclear Missile Parts Lost

Um, I think we've got a little record-keeping problem here.

THE US military has lost more than one thousand "sensitive" nuclear missile parts, officials close to the Pentagon say.

A recent investigation condemning the US military's accidental shipment of nuclear cones to Taiwan also found that the US Air Force doesn't know what happened to many other nuclear parts, The Financial Times reported.

The US Air Force chief of staff and air force secretary were sacked by US Secretary Robert Gates after the investigation.

Mr Gates said the Pentagon would do a stocktake on every piece of nuclear weapon-related parts “to re-establish positive control of these sensitive, classified components”.

“(The investigation discovered) the gradual erosion of nuclear standards and a lack of effective oversight by air force leadership,” Mr Gates said.

U.S. Announces Aggressive Pre-emptive Military Action to Save the Planet

This kills two birds with one stone.

We get to demonstrate some missile capabilities while simultaneously preventing a flaming hunk of steel from crashing into the Earth.

Question: Who will be the first Democrat to denounce this uniltateral aggression?

The Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March, The Associated Press has learned.

U.S. officials said Thursday that the option preferred by the Bush administration will be to fire a missile from a U.S. Navy cruiser, and shoot down the satellite before it enters Earth's atmosphere.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the options will not be publicly discussed until a later Pentagon briefing.

The disabled satellite is expected to hit the Earth the first week of March. Officials said the Navy would likely shoot it down before then, using a special missile modified for the task.

Other details about the missile and the targeting were not immediately available. But the decision involves several U.S. agencies, including the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Defense and the State Department.

Of course the information was not immediately available because this was leaked.

Idiots.

Update here.

President Bush decided to make a first-of-its-kind attempt to use a missile to bring down a broken U.S. spy satellite because of the potential danger to people from its rocket fuel, officials said Thursday.

Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffries, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, did not say when the attempted intercept would be conducted, but the satellite is expected to hit Earth during the first week of March.

Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same briefing that the "window of opportunity" for such a shootdown, presumably to be launched from a Navy ship, will open in the next three or four days and last for seven or eight days. He did not say whether the Pentagon has decided on an exact launch date.

Cartwright said this will be an unprecedented effort; he would not say exactly what are the odds of success.

"This is the first time we've used a tactical missile to engage a spacecraft," Cartwright said.

After extensive study and analysis, U.S. officials came to the conclusion that, "we're better off taking the attempt than not," Cartwright said.

He said a Navy missile known as Standard Missile 3 would be fired in an attempt to intercept the satellite just prior to it re-entering Earth's atmosphere. It would be "next to impossible" to hit the satellite after that because of atmospheric disturbances, Cartwright said.

Saudi Arabia detains another blogger

According to this story he was detained on the 10th of DEC and is still being held.

Saudi Arabian officials have reportedly detained a blogger whose writing has criticized religious extremism in the country, according to the two press freedom groups and a regional human-rights organization.
Blogger and IT professional Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan, 32, was taken into custody on December 10, the Committee to Protect Journalistsreported on Wednesday. His Arabic-language site now has a "Free Fouad" banner in English across the top.

Saudi Arabia is no friend of free speech, unless it comes from their creations like OBL.

Reporters Without Borders Thursday released a statement calling for al-Farhan's release; its current list of "13 Internet Enemies" includes Saudi Arabia.

Research into Internet content filtering by the OpenNet Initiative shows substantial blocking activity by the government of Saudi Arabia. The group says that filtering content for political reasons is the common denominator across the Middle East.

And in the meantime we have people in this country trying to force the Pentagon to embrace various Islamic groups of, shall we say questionable character.

Information for vets and enlistment bonuses

Folks that frequent this site are probably aware of the recent stories, which were brought to light by Fox News, of soldiers who were being notified that they would have to repay some of their enlistment/reenlistment bonuses for not completing their enlistments. What made the story so insane is that these letters were being sent to soldiers who had been wounded and were unable to continue their service. See the story of Jordan Fox.
Well thanks to the folks at Fox News, most notably the group on Fox and Friends the Pentagon has said he will not have to pay back any money. In addition they have established a hot line number to call for any other veterans or even those still serving can call to get their cases reviewed also.
The number is 1-800-984-8523
If you know anybody that may be affected by this or you can help get the word out please do your part. They have served their country and protected you and now you can help them.
Thanks.

Pentagon Celebrates Bombadan

You really have to wonder how long until this politically-correct pandering gets us all killed.

I recall just over six years ago members of a certain religion flew an airliner into the Pentagon (yes, Troofers, it really happened).

Now the Pentagon celebrating Ramadan with DoD employees.

I think I'm going to be ill.

Pentagon observes Muslim holy month

Navy imam Chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam lifted his voice to God as he called to prayer more than 100 Department of Defense employees Monday at a celebration of Ramadan at the Pentagon.

“God is most great,” sang the lieutenant commander and Islamic leader, in Arabic, as iftar — the end of the daily fast began.

Uniformed military personnel, civilians and family members faced Mecca and knelt on adorned prayer rugs chanting their prayers in quiet invocation to Allah.

“We do all we can to help meet the religious needs of our soldiers,” said Deputy Pentagon Chaplain Army Maj. Alan Pomaville, a Christian, who attended the iftar alongside the Muslim chaplains. “The leadership in the [Defense Department] wants to care for the body of the whole soldier.”

As the Pentagon celebrated Ramadan, the White House is in preparations for an iftar feast tomorrow, said Lt. Cmdr. Saifulislam, who will be participating at the White House events.

“President and Mrs. Bush host an iftar dinner every year because they want people around the world to know how much they respect Islam and the many Muslims living in the U.S. who are free to worship as they want, and are an integral part of our society," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

With the Pew Hispanic Center estimating the U.S. Muslim population in 2007 at 2.35 million people and growing, it's no surprise to see the Muslim population play an important role in all facets of government, said Defense Department officials.

Great. Let's make sure we keep them up to speed, especially where our military secrets are concerned.

Ramadan, which is practiced by the world's more than 1 billion Muslims, began on Sept. 13 and concludes on the Eid al-Fitr, a special break-the-fast meal, on Oct. 12.

The Navy's chief of chaplains, Rear Adm. Robert F. Burt, reminded those attending the ceremony that American men and women, regardless of their religious background, should be honored because all "are willing to put their uniform on and lay down their life for this country."

Cmdr. Saifulislam said he has presided over funerals of young Muslim service members who have given their lives in the fight against terrorism.

For the Pentagon, as with the rest of the country, the process of mending fences since the September 11 attacks has not always been easy but necessary, he added.

"I think there is a misconception at times," said Cmdr. Saifulislam. "I have attended many funerals of American Muslims who have died in Iraq. If you take the time to get to know somebody, your attitude toward them changes."

The first Muslim U.S. congressman — Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota Democrat — also attended the iftar, along with Imam Sheik Rashid Lamptey, executive director of the Muslim Association of Virginia. Sheik Lamptey also served as the deputy imam of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia.

Pentagon to Pantsuit: Shut the Hell Up

The Pentagon has told a very haggard Mrs. Clinton she needs to shut up. Finally, someone has stood up to this obnoxious witch.

The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.

In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.

A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.

He added that "such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's answer "at once outrageous and dangerous," and said the senator would respond to his boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Ooooh, I'm telling!

Judging by the above picture, it looks like it's time for The Pantsuit to get another makeover.

Now she responds.

Clinton responded Friday in a letter to Edelman's boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking if he agreed with Edelman's charge.

She said Edelman had ducked her questions and "instead made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning."

"Undersecretary Edelman has his priorities backward," Clinton wrote, calling his claim "outrageous and dangerous."

She repeated her request for a briefing — classified if necessary — on the issue of end-of-war planning.

The senator's spokesman Philippe Reines said: "We sent a serious letter to the Secretary of Defense, and unacceptably got a political response back."

These two need to go soak their heads.

Hello? Hello? Is This Thing On???

Presumably, someone somewhere knows what the hell they're doing.

Pentagon arms its enemy's enemies in Iraq

The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle al-Qaida operatives in Iraq.

The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with tribal elders and other local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pickup trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops.

Read it all.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Cops to 9/11 Attacks

This just broke on Fox a short time ago, and the first online report is here, with more to come.

New transcripts released by the Pentagon show that the man considered to be the chief mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has admitted he is responsible for the terrorist attacks from "a to z".

Mohammed has also acknowledged being responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, as well as other attempted terrorist attacks around the world in the years since.

The confessions come from a transcript of a hearing held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Saturday in which the Al Qaeda terrorist also acknowledged a plot to assassinate Bill Clinton while the former president was visiting the Philippines in 1994. The transcripts also show Mohammed admitted to plotting the October 2002 terrorist attack in Bali, Indonesia.

The admissions came during what was the first military hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 13 other major detainees since they were transferred last September from a secret CIA prison overseas into military custody at Guantanamo Bay.

The redacted report also noted anthrax attacks, dirty bombs, a Sears Towers plot, other plots in Los Angeles and Washington state, the assassination of Jimmy Carter, and the shoe bomb attempt involving Richard Reid.

UPDATE: More at LGF and Hot Air.

UPDATE II: An AP report has details on some other residents of Club Gitmo:

The Pentagon also released transcripts of the hearings of Abu Faraj al-Libi and Ramzi Binalshibh.

Binalshibh is suspected of helping Mohammed with the Sept. 11, 2001, attack plan and is also linked to a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport. Al-Libi is a Libyan who reportedly masterminded two bombings 11 days apart in Pakistan in December 2003 that targeted President Pervez Musharraf for his support of the U.S.-led war on terror.

UPDATE III: Right Voices checks in. And sure enough, the crazy people question the timing (h/t Killgore Trout).

UPDATE IV: Unclassified transcript. See pp. 17-20 in particular.

UPDATE V: More insane people weigh in.

This guy is a Sunni and part of the Muslim Brotherhood out of Kuwait and Egypt aka Mujahideen. The mujahideen were significantly financed, armed, and trained by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Carter and Reagan administrations, Saudi Arabia, the People's Republic of China, several European countries and Pakistan (during the Zia-ul-Haq military regime). The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the interagent used in the majority of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance in Afghanistan.

This is very bad news for the Bush/Cheney swine herd and the current leadership in Pakistan.

Are the 9/11 Conspiracy nuts not so insane after all?

By: getoffmedz on March 14, 2007 at 08:19pm
Flag: [abusive]

U.S. Able to Strike Iran in the Spring?

Take with a huge grain of salt, but interesting nonetheless. As noted yesterday, it's time for retaliation. In fact, I've been waiting for payback for over 27 years now.

US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.

The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves office.

Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr Bush to open a new front against Iran. So too is the vice-president, Dick Cheney. The state department and the Pentagon are opposed, as are Democratic congressmen and the overwhelming majority of Republicans. The sources said Mr Bush had not yet made a decision. The Bush administration insists the military build-up is not offensive but aimed at containing Iran and forcing it to make diplomatic concessions. The aim is to persuade Tehran to curb its suspect nuclear weapons programme and abandon ambitions for regional expansion.

Air Pelosi: Waste and Arrogance

It's for the children.

THURSDAY morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped out of her Georgetown home and into a government-owned black Chevy Tahoe SUV. That gas-guzzler truck took her directly to the Rayburn House Office Building - where she was the lead witness at a Science and Technology Committee hearing on global warming.

This, the day after word broke of Pelosi's request for regular use of a U.S. Air Force C-32 - the same plane that flies the vice president and first lady.

She wants to travel in luxury. The Air Force jet is the same size and airframe as the Boeing 757-200, which carries about 300 passengers. The C-32 boasts 42 business-class seats - plus a wood-paneled state room, big-screen TV, full-size bed and crew of 16, including uniformed stewards who bring drinks and meals on request. Oh, and an open bar.

Cost to taxpayers? Some $15,000 an hour.

Read the rest.

Meanwhile, her hatchetman, John Murtha, issues thuggish threats. I'm not sure if I have the right to question him since, you know, I didn't serve in Vietnam. But what the hell.

Perhaps the flap over Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plane wouldn't be so bad - had she and her trusty sidekick, Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), not reacted so obnoxiously.

When the Pentagon didn't immediately honor the request of the self-proclaimed "most powerful woman in America" for a top-of-the-line Air Force passenger jet, Pelosi deployed the "s"-word: sexism.

"As a woman, as a woman speaker of the House, I don't want any less of an opportunity than male speakers when they have served here," she said.

Pelosi then implied that the Pentagon was getting even with her:

"Why are they [the Pentagon] feeding the flames? Of course, I have been a constant critic - for nearly three years, I've called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, who still has a desk at the Department of Defense . . ."

Then the thuggish, ethically challenged Murtha weighed in - saying it would be a "mistake" to deny her request, "since she decides on the allocations for the Department of Defense."

He'd be the expert.

Murtha's history of manipulating defense appropriations for personal gain is long and distinguished. In a 1989 defense bill, then-Speaker Tom Foley was shamed into redlining a Murtha-authored provision requiring the speaker have a C-20 jet available at all times.

What a pair, these two.

Massive WaPo Blunder

We're so used to the relentless media bias that we've come to expect it on a daily basis. Considering the amount of times they screw up, the mainstream press unwittingly has become a boon for bloggers over the past several years. Today we have a whopper from the Washington Post and a lengthy "correction" that soon followed.

Of course, they were spoonfed the misinformation by none other than the unctuous Carl Levin.

A Feb. 9 front-page article about the Pentagon inspector general’s report regarding the office of former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith incorrectly attributed quotations to that report. References to Feith’s office producing “reporting of dubious quality or reliability” and that the office “was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda” were from a report issued by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) in Oct. 2004. Similarly, the quotes stating that Feith’s office drew on “both reliable and unreliable reporting” to produce a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq “that was much stronger than that assessed by the IC [Intelligence Community] and more in accord with the policy views of senior officials in the Administration” were also from Levin’s report. The article also stated that the intelligence provided by Feith’s office supported the political views of senior administration officials, a conclusion that the inspector general’s report did not draw.The two reports employ similar language to characterize the activities of Feith’s office: Levin’s report refers to an “alternative intelligence assessment process” developed in that office, while the inspector general’s report states that the office “developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers.” The inspector general’s report further states that Feith’s briefing to the White House in 2002 “undercuts the Intelligence Community” and “did draw conclusions that were not fully supported by the available intelligence.”

All the gory details are laid out in painstaking detail at Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, NRO's Media Blog, Michelle Malkin, Forward Movement, Sister Toldjah, Ace of Spades, 7.62mm Justice, Right Voices, and the Political Pit Bull.

The AP screwed this up as well, as noted by Power Line.

Reuters is still spinning as best they can.

Let's see how quickly the tinfoil hat crowd translates "inappropriate" into "illegal".

Let's see how quickly the talking heads retract their commentary on this. I won't hold my breath.