Army Squads Falling Short on Skills, But It’s Not Just the Army

All the services have already sacrificed quality at the altar of political correctness, but are now in full gallop sacrificing quality for quantity.  The standards have undeniably been lowered across the board, not just in the Army.  I see first hand every day the “everybody gets a trophy” mentality because the machine needs bodies to fill cockpits.  Training is cut, standards are lowered, yet “leadership” still pretends that we are getting the same product at the end of the pipeline that made us the best military in the world.  Our enemies aren’t stupid.  They see our military being hollowed out, and they are bidding their time until we are weak enough to defeat.  That time is rapidly approaching at our current pace, and on our current path.

When, and I repeat WHEN our military becomes beatable, the only thing stopping an invasion will be the same thing that Japanese Admiral Yamamoto feared about us, which is a man with a gun behind every blade of grass.  

Yet another reason to fight to the death for our 2nd Amendment RIGHTS. 

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Most Army Squads Falling Short on Infantry Skills, Reports Find

22 Apr 2019

Military.com | By Matthew Cox

The U.S. Army says I think will meet its readiness goals by 2022, but young sergeants in most infantry and close combat units don’t know how to maneuver their squads or do basic land navigation, Military.com has learned.

Read ads entire article here: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/04/22/most-army-squads-falling-short-infantry-skills-reports-find.html?ESRC=eb_190423.nl

Military Readiness: 1940 and 2018 – Same Old Situation

“Navy readiness is “heading in the wrong direction,” the Government Accountability Office told the Senate this morning, with only 15 percent of Navy F-35Cs rated “fully mission capable.” At the same hearing, a four-star admiral acknowledged three nuclear-powered attack submarines were still stuck awaiting overhaul, with the USS Boise expected to be out of action for a total of six years.”

Link to cited article:  Three Attack Subs ‘Not Certified To Dive’; Navy F-35s at 15 Percent Readiness

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In 1940, just as in 1914, America was weak militarily, which emboldened the aggression of evil powers against us.  After years of sacrificing security and strength for comfort, we find ourselves in the same situation.  Isn’t it funny how history repeats itself for those too lazy and irresponsible to learn it?

I appreciate Gen. Mattis’ decree that readiness be improved, but unless congress acknowledges that freedom has a price and demonstrates a willingness to pay it, it’s just an unfunded mandate.  Our increasingly corrupt and power hungry politicians have been using our tax dollars to buy votes instead of securing our freedom by ensuring a strong military.  Nor does it help that our increasingly political yes-men military leadership have been hiding the extent of our readiness problem to further their own careers.  They fail to speak the truth about the situation until they are safely retired, earning a handsome salary in some consulting or lobbying job which their military position secured for them.  Then they snipe from the sidelines.  I have no respect for such people.

The true depths to which our level of military readiness have descended have largely been hidden from the American public.  They take for granted that the military will simply always be there, and always be ready to take on all comers.  One has to but look at the increased aggression and boldness of Russia, China, and various muslim nations to see the truth.  Our military and its equipment are worn out from nearly two decades of continuous war.  Our potential adversaries sense this, and sense opportunity to advance their interests.  Just as Japan and Germany did in 1940 and 1941.

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Desperation Driving Air Force to Consider MASSIVE Shortcuts to Training

I have been asked why I criticize the Air Force and its leadership as often and as vociferously as I do.  The best way I can explain it is to ask why you discipline your children.  You are trying to correct their course, to put those you love on a path that will benefit and prosper them.  It’s the same when criticizing the service I love, and the people who are destroying it. 

Those of us who love our Air Force, having devoted many years to serving in it, are heartbroken watching the service we love crumbling before our eyes.  We are also fearful for what that means for the defense of our nation.

If you have been paying attention in recent years, you have seen the service chiefs seemingly trying to destroy morale, driving motivated and qualified people from the service, and failing to make the case for sufficient funding to maintain, much less upgrade or replace worn out equipment.  The pilot shortage and the reasons for it have been predicted and known for a long time by the average airman.  For all the reasons mentioned above, and because there are more attractive alternatives in the private sector now, there is an already massive and growing shortage of pilots.  A recent grounding of the T-6 (the primary trainer for the Air Force) due to oxygen system problems similar to those experience by the F-22, T-45, and F-18 has exacerbated the problem.  The death spiral of being unable to train pilots fast enough to replace those being hemorrhaged to the private sector is being made worse by these training stoppages.  The story here isn’t just the pilot shortage, but what the desperately incompetent leadership is doing to fix the problem.  Actually, they don’t seem to be even trying to fix the problem, but rather just trying to put band-aids on severed arteries to slow down the bleeding.

For a long time, senior leaders have secretly seen this crisis coming even though they never publicly acknowledge it until very recently.  Quietly they began pressing those at all points along the chain to cut corners in production in an effort to keep production numbers of pilots up.  Those who could never meet the historical standards of becoming a pilot somehow manage to scrape through.  Students who can’t pass a check ride continue to get reinstated in training rather than being eliminated.  Even the front-line instructors get beaten down to the point that they don’t “hook” a student when they should because they know that the squadron, group, and wing leadership will simply reinstate them rather than wash them out.  They just get passed along, standards and quality of the end product be damned.

This latest idea, to essentially bypass an entire phase of training, is perhaps one of the worst ideas yet, showing once again that the detached, elitist leadership REFUSES to listen to their people. 

We will not have the luxury of time to prepare as we did in previous wars should a major power attack us.  If we are not strong enough to deter such an attack from ever taking place, we likely will not survive it with the military we currently have.  It may already be to late to repair the damage, and restore our Air Force, and our military in general, to a force that is capable of defending us against all comers.  I pray that it’s not, but fear it is. 

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Desperation Move: Air Force to Experiment With Partial Training of Pilots

By John Q. Public| November 30th, 2017

I’ve been saying it for years and I’ll say it again: the Air Force does not have a pilot shortage because of a shortage of people who want to fly airplanes. It has a pilot shortage because life in the Air Force sucks. If you’re going to take a daily kick in the junk for decent money, there are countless places to do this without the burden of deployments, irritations from shoe clerks, and the psychological neutering effect of being perpetually denied the tactical initiative in a top-heavy and bullshit-laden bureaucracy.

Life in the Air Force sucks, even for pilots. This is why there’s a pilot shortage, which is really just a symptom of a broader and deeper morale crisis that has been festering since long before Norton “Spock” Schwartz replaced “In Lieu Of” with a cute acronym in an unsuccessful attempt to take the stink off. Since long before “Fight to Fight” was used as a euphemism for force shaping, and even since before “force shaping” was itself substituted as jargon for deliberately understaffing the entire service and hoping no one would notice.

When the flesh peddlers got the upper hand, we all lost. Even those witless Americans who assume airplanes just magically appear overhead to protect them.

Now, as we enter the Seventh Circle of the pilot shortage, desperation is setting in. Generals are finally realizing that despite their Earthly deification, they cannot summon airpower with a casual wiggle of their stars. Turns out you can’t actually do jack shit with airplanes unless you have people who are willing to fly them.

Now in years past, “willing” was not a problem. Having an available pilot slot to fill was like being the lone female in a deployed maintenance squadron. You could turn away many applicants before giving someone a shot, and if it didn’t work out there were many strong candidates waiting in the wings.

These days, not so much. People have figured out this is no longer the best deal in the world. Without the right support and orientation … the right culture … it’s just a shitload of work without enough intrinsic payoff.

In the year or so since the service finally admitted it was so addicted to nonsense that it was driving its most intrinsically motivated servants to trample each other in a rush to the exits, any number of bizarre tactics have been attempted to put direct pressure on the pilot hemorrhage.

Huge bonuses. Promises of reduced queep. Sugary rhetoric. More bonuses. Vagaries about assignment preferences and extensions. You name it, Goldfein and company have promised it. Sure they haven’t delivered, but it’s early … and if you can look into the seeds of time and tell me which will grow and which will not, then speak unto me.

But for their latest attempt at pandering, Air Force leaders deserve special recognition, for they have found a new low. An Eighth Circle.

An email circulated earlier this week tells the tale. See for yourself.

Let’s just be clear what’s happening here. We’re experimenting with giving Air Force wings to pilots who have not had Air Force pilot training. This is a great way to fast-track the utter ruin of what was once a proud warfighting service. This is easily the worst idea since the furbie, and has about as much chance of looking serious as Madonna had trying to pass herself off as a virgin.

There is a proven recipe for the baking of an Air Force pilot. This is like trying to bake bread without yeast … it will not rise. Without the primary phase of training, which teaches not only basic flying skills but the fundamentals of military aviation culture, you will not produce a competent military aviator. Instead, you’ll fool yourself into winging someone who will instantly become a drag device on his or her gaining unit.

Sure, it’s only 10 people for now. Sure, it’s just an experiment. But the fact it would even be considered demonstrates that even as the Air Force grapples with how to solve its pilot problem, it’s not listening to pilots. They’re telling you everything you need to know, and either you’re not listening or you’re powerless to act. Either way, this move spells doom for the USAF.

Link to article:  https://www.jqpublicblog.com/desperation-move-air-force-to-experiment-with-partial-training-of-pilots/

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Military Men and Women, you MUST Not Obey That Order

All men and women in the military, and concerned citizens, need to watch this video.

I have often spoken of the purge taking place in the military at the hands of Barack Hussein Obama.  Bill Whittle does an exceptional job of explaining how this is taking place, and why Americans SHOULD be worried about it.  There are very, VERY few leaders in the military left today who will refuse to obey unlawful, unconstitutional orders from those careerist officers appointed above them, who are in turn receiving their orders from Obama.  Most who would refuse have either left, or been kicked out. 

Men and women in the military, you MUST refuse to obey such orders.  You MUST honor your oath to protect and defend the Constitution.  It is under attack now, and has almost been put out of its misery.  You are the last line of defense between a tyrannical, out of control government and the citizenry wondering if they will be citizens or subjects when they wake up tomorrow.  If you fail to act… yes, FAIL… then we will be forced to act. 

Do your duty, and HONOR YOUR OATH.

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Screwing the Military: AF ‘Leadership’s’ Core Values

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In the military the phrase “shut up and color” reflects the basic reality of the chain of command.  When the boss issues marching orders, you generally salute smartly and carry them out.  But their are limits to doing so.  It is a leader’s responsibility to look out for his people in a moral and ethical way while still getting the mission done.  When that leader’s superiors issue orders or pursue policies that harm personnel and are detrimental to the mission, that leader has a responsibility to push back, even at the risk of damaging his career.   Over the last 20 years, I have seen fewer and fewer ‘leaders’ willing to say ‘no’ because doing so might harm their chance of promotion.  In our current political climate, where the Commander in Chief displays and holds to no core values or morals except looking out for himself, is it any surprise that the handpicked military leadership who remain after the Obama purge of senior officers who displayed any charisma, leadership ability, and independent thought would be any different?  They pay lip service to the Air Force Core Values, but when it comes to putting them into practice, they fail miserably, most notably in the integrity arena.  This trend was sent into hyperdrive with the Obama purge.  Now we are left with an upper echelon of political yes-men that would make the Soviets proud.

The lack of integrity at the senior levels has trickled down now to infect the military at ALL levels.  Lack of a sense of honor, incompetence, selfishness, and lack of integrity are evident everywhere.  Leaders who voice one policy and implement/support another, people cutting corners and not doing what is necessary to implement policies properly and ethically, using force shaping initiatives as ‘loyalty tests,’ all the way down to service members hiding in cars to avoid having to pay respects to our flag and those who sacrificed and paved the way for us.  The state of our military from top to bottom is beyond alarming.
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Force Mismanagement: AFPC Botches Retirements, Airmen Caught in Crossfire

by Tony Carr on April 5, 2014

Airmen who employ airpower know how unforgiving it can be. It’s about precision. Releasing a weapon from an aircraft one second too early or late can have lethal consequences on the ground, including fratricide or the loss of a battle. Airpower is also about communication. Confusion or inaccuracy in messages can result in paratroopers being dropped into a hail of enemy fire or wounded warriors bleeding out as rescue helicopters fly to the wrong coordinates. But it’s also about morality. Executing unlawful orders or applying combat power in violation of rules of engagement can undermine an entire war effort.

The Air Force has long understood these principles. It has also understood until recently that these principles cannot thrive unless they thrive universally and continually. Airmen who don’t practice, experience, and immerse in a culture of precision, clarity, and morality can’t be expected to exhibit these qualities in combat. In the last few years, the Air Force has allowed these notions to become secondary, and in some cases outright abandoned them in pursuit of imagined efficiencies or advantages or as a function of simple organizational neglect. Nowhere is this more evident than in the conduct of the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC), which has recently undertaken a rolling chronicle of unprecedented malpractice, leaving airmen frustrated, uncertain, and increasingly disinterested in wearing a blue uniform.

Generals Say Troops Understand Need for Pay Cuts

In testimony to Congress last week, military leaders told Congress that military personnel are understanding as to why they must take pay cuts. The officials told Congress that troops are ready and willing to sacrifice their pay.

…Testimony from the military brass took some lawmakers by surprise after troop advocacy groups have rejected the cuts to pay and benefits proposed in the upcoming budget.

Uh, NO. We don’t understand why military personnel who are already underpaid for the amount of hardship and risk they are asked and ordered to endure are now being asked to take it in the shorts YET AGAIN while the money that SHOULD be going to buy military equipment, and pay military personnel and retirees is instead being given to welfare sponges and other political boondoggles being used to buy votes. And, NO, we’re NOT willing to sacrifice even MORE of our pay, endure even older equipment, and sacrifice the security of America so that idiot politicians can keep their cushy jobs by buying votes rather than funding the military as the Constitution calls for.

For these service chiefs to stand there and cheerfully throw the men and women of their respective services under the proverbial bus is disgraceful. These are the ‘yes-men’ we are left with after decades of the military building a system of checking boxes to get promoted rather than displaying real leadership, and after a Marxist president purges any remaining commanders who display any leadership ability whatsoever. America is in trouble, friends.

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General Tells Congress Troops Are Willing To Sacrifice Pay

Mar 26, 2014

Military.com  |  by Bryant Jordan

Senior Pentagon officials told Congress on Tuesday that troops are willing to sacrifice portions of their pay and benefits if it means keeping and improving the training and equipment needed to do their jobs.

Vice Adm. William F. Moran, chief of naval personnel and deputy chief of naval operations, told lawmakers that sailors he has met with over the past six months have spoken more about “the quality of the service” they’re able to do than anything other topic.

The view was shared by other officials, including Sheryl E. Murray, assistant deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs for the Marine Corps.

“I would emphasize our Marines do enjoy a good quality of life. Our Marines love being in the Marine Corps family,” she said. “Most of all, they want the right equipment. … They want to be trained, and they want to be ready. That is the overriding desire.”

Personnel officials from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and the Department of Defense met with the House Armed Services’ Military Personnel subcommittee to talk about cuts to pay and benefits the Pentagon is proposing for its upcoming budget.

These include a smaller pay raise — 1 percent raise, an average 5 percent reduction in housing allowances, and higher health care fees for some retirees.

The proposed budget for next year is $496 billion, reflecting a savings of $176 billion, according to the Pentagon, because of the personnel cuts.

Military leaders say personnel costs make up about a third of their budgets and remain the fasting growing portion. Unless the trend is slowed and reversed, manning costs will eventually make it impossible to meet other funding needs, the military brass has said.

“That’s why we are asking for a 1 percent [troop pay increase] instead of a 2 or higher percentage, so we can slow that growth of a military member’s pay and also be able to bolster their readiness and bolster the modernization,” Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jessica Wright said.

“The quality of life is good, but the quality of service, we believe, for our military members is lower, and so we would like to balance that,” she said.

Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg said quality of life is important, but added “we can’t afford to lower the training standards in defense of something else.”

However, the personnel officials who offered testimony before the subcommittee could offer only personal anecdotes to back up their belief that troops would welcome pay and benefit cuts. No survey results were offered. Leaders also said it could not wait for the results of a commission due to issue its report on military pay and benefits next year.  (usually when someone says “we can’t wait,” that means their trying to shove a load of crap down your throat before you gag –G)

Testimony from the military brass took some lawmakers by surprise after troop advocacy groups have rejected the cuts to pay and benefits proposed in the upcoming budget.

Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., reminded the Pentagon officials that the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission is expected to turn in its review and recommendation a year from now. He cautioned that they are asking to make significant changes in these areas without the benefit of the commission’s findings.

“What happens when they come back in 2015 with a whole host of recommendations?” Heck asked.

Pentagon officials said the military can’t wait a year for the commission’s report followed by another year before any recommendations could be adopted.

“We’ve got to make a near-term savings in the next couple of years. Otherwise, we’re going to dig ourselves into a hole and just not going to be able to get out of it,” Bromberg said.

Veterans’ organizations, which often speak for the services’ rank and file, have opposed many of the proposed cuts.

The veterans groups, including the Association of the U.S. Navy and The American Legion, back a 1.8 percent raise that is tied to the formula worked out by the Employment Cost Index of the Labor Department.

“You want an adequate standard of living” for service members, American Legion National Commander Dan Dellinger said Tuesday night. “That’s important for them and their families.”

Dellinger said service members know the fiscal picture is tight. Army exercises have been scaled back. In the Navy, some ships have stayed at home instead of cruising.

“They’ve taken those concessions,” he said. “I hate to say it, but the government shouldn’t try to balance the budget on the backs of service members. If they took away the entire DoD budget, it still wouldn’t balance the budget.”

— Bryant Jordan can be reached at Bryant.Jordan@monster.com.

Link to article:  http://m.military.com/daily-news/2014/03/26/generals-say-troops-understand-need-for-pay-cuts.html?comp=7000023435630&rank=2

Obama May Seek UN Help to Disarm Americans

From this point forward, we must resist ANYONE who tries to take our guns. No matter who they are.  Whether they call themselves UN “peace enforcers,” military, national guard, police, or some other form of “law enforcement,” if they come for our guns they are now the enemy.  You can make tyranny legal, as we have seen many times through history, and we are seeing again right here, right now.

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
— Declaration of Independence

“When tyranny becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
–Often attributed to Thomas Jefferson

Evolving into a Second-Rate Military

Our ‘progressive‘ government (progressives used to call themselves communists until that became ‘uncool’ in America) is allowing, no, FORCING our military to become second rate while the welfare, EBT cards for booze and strip clubs, and Obamaphones continue to flow.

Remind me again which is actually called for in the Constitution.  Pretty sure it’s the military.
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Military Alters Training to Deal With Budget Woes

Nov 25, 2013

Associated Press| by Brett Barrouquere and Susanne M. Schafer

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The skies above Shaw Air Force Base in central South Carolina and the fields across Fort Campbell on the Tennessee-Kentucky line have been a bit quieter in recent months.

Budget cuts to the military have forced installations around the country to alter training exercises and daily routines to save money. For airmen and pilots, that means fewer flights. For soldiers and Marines, it means fewer drills or delaying them until a deployment nears.

The automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration, come as the military is in the midst of a drawdown in Afghanistan and shrinking its overall size.

The Army has retooled training regimens to focus on soldiers deploying to Afghanistan and Korea — those who will be in hostile areas soonest, said George Wright, a civilian Army spokesman in Washington. The Army curtailed training to smaller units of eight to 14 soldiers each — the squad level — for 80 percent of the fighting force in fiscal year 2013 and canceled seven Brigade Combat Team training center rotations.

In cases where only part of a brigade is deploying from Fort Campbell, some soldiers are being pushed into field training while others are held back until their departure date draws nearer, spokesman Bob Jenkins said.”That way, we’re able to meet the requirements for the people being trained for deployment and make sure they had all the things that were required,” Jenkins said. “If people were supposed to go out and shoot 500 rounds one day, they went out and fired 500 rounds. That didn’t change.”

The 77th Fighter Squadron, one of three that make up the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw, was told to stand down in April after it returned from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. It was one of several groups in the 9th Air Force ordered to idle jets for weeks in response to the automatic budget cuts.

Col. Clark Quinn, the F-16 wing’s vice commander, said the pilots were given the vacation time they would have normally taken and then put into ground training, such as on computer simulators. It gave them a chance to rest, and polish up some of their technical skills, he said.

“They were not flying. Their aircraft were just parked,” Quinn said. The maintenance support units worked on other aircraft to stay sharp, he said.

The pilots and airmen are now back on their regular training schedules, Quinn said.

Over the summer, the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell anticipated cuts would come and purchased helicopter parts that typically need replacing, rather waiting to buy them when equipment failed. The move has allowed the regiment to keep flying, even if on a more limited basis, once the cutbacks kicked in, said Maj. Matt Wolfe.

“We had to cut down flight hours for a while with the funding issues,” Wolfe said. “But, we’ve been flying on the cheap. The only thing we cost them is fuel.”

Navy Lt. Rob Myers at the Pentagon said budget cuts have forced the Naval Air Forces to trim flight hours for aviators back to 11 hours per aviator per month – the minimum needed to maintain flight proficiency. Pilots are turning to simulators to get in flight hours beyond the minimum.

“Our deploying forces are properly manned, trained and equipped to meet all mission requirements. Our non-deployers have had some degradation due to impacts based on exercise cancellations, port visits cancellations, schools cancellations, flight hours reduced,” Myers said.

Col. Steve Yackley, deputy commander at Fort Jackson outside Columbia, said the post continues to train about 45,000 soldiers annually and expects to get the money to do so for the next two years. It is the Army’s largest training installation and trains about half the service’s new soldiers every year.

“We are a little protected,” Yackley said. But he said the installation has to look for savings in other ways. At both Shaw and Fort Jackson, grass isn’t cut as diligently and repairs to buildings are made only in emergencies.

Fort Campbell has undertaken similar steps, stopping reunions for former soldiers and health and informational sessions for soldiers and their families.

“If we could do without it, we did,” Jenkins said.

Along with maintenance and training delays, some soldiers are being put to new tasks while not deployed.

Capt. J. Stephen Donaldson, company commander of 551st Military Police at Fort Campbell, is teaching soldiers who recently returned from deployment how to handle post security. Donaldson’s job entails taking 72 soldiers, from the infantry and supply, and teaching them how to use pepper spray and work security at the entrance gates to the post. The soldiers will work security on a six-month rotation.

The soldiers will fill in for two platoons from the 716th MP Battalion deployed overseas. With two more platoons headed out soon, the extra hands are needed to avoid hiring private contractors.

For the soldiers, shuffling training schedules and cutbacks are difficult, but nothing they say they can’t handle.

“It sucks, but you do what you need to do,” Spc. Chris Allen said after returning to Fort Campbell in October from six months in Afghanistan.

— Associated Press reporter Julie Watson in San Diego, Calif., contributed to this report. Barrouquere reported from Fort Campbell, Ky., and Louisville, Ky. Schafer reported from Columbia, S.C., and Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

Link to article: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/11/25/military-alters-training-to-deal-with-budget-woes.html?ESRC=eb.nl
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Veteran’s Day 2013: A Day of Somber Remembrance

Yes, I’m a veteran, but don’t thank me. Thank those who didn’t come home, and those who risked and gave much more than I to ensure our freedom. It’s too late to thank our WWI veterans, so start with those few remaining veterans from WWII who are still with us. We are losing hundreds of WWII vets each day. This weekend was the last gathering of the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Japan in the dark days of 1942 giving our nation a much needed morale boost, and causing the Japanese to strategically hold more assets close to the home islands thus saving untold numbers of American lives later in the war. Most of the Raiders are now dead, and the rest too frail to travel anymore. The rate of loss of the Korean War vets is accelerating, with the Vietnam vets waiting in the wings. Those are the people who saw horrors that I can only imagine. We are seeing a generation now come home from the Middle East who have been forced to fight an enemy with both hands tied behind their back, an enemy that doesn’t share our value of human life, and are being forced to die or be wounded because our government won’t allow us to win. The mental scars from that alone are more than any man should have to bear. Even if you never served in the military, but you are one who appreciates the freedom you still cling to, and who faithfully supports those called to take up arms on your behalf, it is I who gives thanks to you. Always remember what price has been paid to preserve your freedom. Pass that knowledge along to your children, friends, and neighbors. NEVER allow our history to be rewritten and cheapened. Honor the veterans by learning, loving, revering, teaching, and defending the very Constitution that our veterans swore an oath to protect and defend.

Carry on.
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The Problems Of Women In Combat – From A Female Combat Vet

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.

The mission of our military is SUPPOSED to be to be ready, willing, and able to kick anybody’s butt, anytime, anywhere, and in such convincing fashion that no one is willing to challenge us. There is no room in that mission for political correctness and social engineering. ANYTHING that detracts from the ability of our military to impose maximum violence upon our enemies is something that is a destructive cancer eating away at our ability to deter attacks against us, and to respond to them convincingly.

For thousands of years, military and political leaders have understood that men and women are DIFFERENT. Each has unique talents and abilities. When it comes to things that require strength and violence, men are better suited for the task. Is there a place for women in the military? Sure there is. But if you don’t want to have the negative baggage that comes with MIXING men and women in a military (or any environment), then, to quote The Offspring, “You gotta keep ‘em separated!” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFwkv14u3b4)

Sadly, our political and politically driven military leadership absolutely REFUSE to admit that men and women are different. They also refuse to acknowledge that many of the problems they keep wasting down-days and hours of eye-poking briefings trying to solve are CAUSED by their social engineering and political correctness. Sexual assaults and harassment aren’t right, but not everyone does what’s right. When you put men and women together, you’re GOING to get the problems that go along with that. No matter how many PowerPoint briefings you give.

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http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-problems-of-women-in-combat-from-a-female-combat-vet/

January 26, 2013 by Jude Eden

It’s not all about qualification. I’m speaking as a female Marine Iraq war vet who did serve in the combat zone doing entry checkpoint duty in Fallujah, and we worked with the grunts daily for that time. All the branches still have different standards for females and males. Why? Because most women wouldn’t even qualify to be in the military if they didn’t have separate standards. Men and women are different, but those pushing women into combat don’t want to admit that truth. They huff and puff about how women can do whatever men can do, but it just ain’t so. We’re built differently, and it doesn’t matter that one particular woman could best one particular man. The best woman is still no match for the best man, and most of the men she’d be fireman-carrying off the battlefield will be at least 100 lbs heavier than her with their gear on.

Remember WHY We Celebrate Memorial Day

Do you have big plans for this Memorial Day? Maybe a BBQ, water skiing, and partying with friends? Do you remember WHY you have this holiday, and more importantly WHAT it is you’re supposed to be celebrating?

Memorial Day, as the name implies, is about memories. The memories we are supposed to have, share, and honor of the ones who made this day possible. Throughout our history men and women have stepped forward when their nation called. They have served unselfishly, and sacrificed more than most will ever understand. Some made the ultimate sacrifice, and never returned to the families, homes, and nation they left behind. Without their sacrifice our nation would undoubtedly have followed an entirely different course.

The freedom you exercise this Memorial Day to do whatever you want, or to do nothing at all, was ensured by the blood and sacrifice of veterans. As you grill your brats and burgers, as you spend time with family and friends, give thanks to those who made the day possible. Remember and honor their sacrifice.

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Obama STILL lying – AFRICOM: AF, Navy still flying Libya missions

Obama is STILL lying, and is STILL in violation of the War Powers Act. Whether or not the act is unconstitutional is not for Obama to decide under our system of LAW. Every president since the act’s passage has thought it unconstitutional, but has obeyed the law. However, Obama the imperial president, as in so many other cases has simply decided the law doesn’t apply to him.

The congress had an opportunity to make itself relevant again and defund the operation, but as usual they caved leaving Obama unchecked and free to do whatever he wishes.

I’m beginning to think it’s time for an impeachment, and several recalls of elected officials.
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http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/06/defense-africom-air-force-navy-flying-libya-missions-063011/

AFRICOM: AF, Navy still flying Libya missions

By Dave Majumdar – Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jun 30, 2011 12:33:04 EDT

Air Force and Navy aircraft are still flying hundreds of strike missions over Libya despite the Obama administration’s claim that American forces are playing only a limited support role in the NATO operation.

Chaplains: Troops May Fear Sharing Beliefs on Gays

Jesus told us that Christians and Christianity would be persecuted. We will continue to be persecuted by until His return. It’s not going to get any better. We have to keep proclaiming His name in the public square and continue to combat the attempts to condemn more people to Hell by depriving them of the chance to hear the name of Jesus.

And on a less spiritual level, there’s this little thing call the !st Amendment to the constitution that supposedly guarantees our right to speak of Him. Not only on the the subject of Christianity, but on many other things, we have allowed our constitutional rights to be eroded. If we don’t fight for them, we will indeed lose them.
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http://www.military.com/news/article/chaplains-troops-may-fearing-beliefs-on-gays.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl

May 24, 2011

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — Military chaplains are concerned troops could be punished for expressing objections to homosexuality once the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is lifted.

Leaders of 21 religious groups that provide chaplains to the U.S. military on Monday sent a letter to the chiefs of chaplains of the Navy, Army and Air Force. They want Congress or the Pentagon to guarantee troops won’t be punished if they openly discuss their objections to homosexuality.

“This is already an assault and a challenge on individual conscience and some Soldiers may think it’s forcing them to abandon their religious beliefs or being marginalized for holding to those beliefs,” said Douglas E. Lee, a retired Army brigadier general and chaplain, whose signature was the first on the letter.

Chaplains who preach at base chapels that homosexuality is a sin will still be entitled to express their beliefs during worship after the military’s adopts its new policy allowing openly gay troops, according to training materials given to Marines.

But the organizations say it is not enough to state that servicemembers and chaplains remain free to exercise their faith in chapel services.

“Servicemembers should know that chaplains’ ministry and their own rights of conscience remain protected everywhere military necessity has placed them,” the letter states.

Officials for the Navy, Army and Air Force did not immediately respond to calls and emails from the AP seeking comment.

Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, which pushed for the repeal, said the Department of Defense has made it clear that there will be no change in the way chaplains conduct their business once the ban is lifted.

“This is yet another example of people with traditional and, quite frankly, anti-gay views demanding protection for something that doesn’t need protection,” he said.

Military training to apply the new law allowing gays to serve openly began earlier this year and is expected to be completed by midsummer.

Concern about the repeal of the 17-year ban on openly gay troops peaked after the Navy said it would allow chaplains to perform same-sex unions in states where gay marriage is legal. The Navy abruptly reversed that plan earlier this month after coming under pressure from lawmakers, saying its lawyers wanted to do a more thorough review of the decision.

The controversy was enough to make the organizations, including the North American Mission Board, which provides about 450 of the roughly 3,000 chaplains in the military, convinced a clear directive is needed.

“Though this revision is now temporarily suspended pending further review, we are genuinely concerned that this might be a sign of things to come,” the letter states.

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Harvesting the Bounty of Honor

There will be many great words from many great people about veterans quoted and posted today, and I appreciate them all. I’m not that smart, so I’ll just say thank you.

Thank you to all those who chose the path of personal sacrifice over personal wealth, who have given up anniversaries, kids birthdays, and all the other things we take for granted in a “normal,” peaceful life. Thank you for being the shield and the sword defending our freedom. For those who gave their lives defending an idea of freedom and millions of people they would never know, may God bless you and honor your sacrifice.

God bless you all.

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Obama/Dems Struggling to Relinquish America’s Superpower Status

Start connecting the dots:  Almost all funding for new hardware has been cut;  Military pay increases sliding back to sub-inflation rate levels;  Military force structures being cut, but deployments and the places we are expected to be around the world increasing;  Operations and maintenance budgets being cut or raided to pay for current operations;  Moving to a more “rapid deployment” mindset while neglecting the infrastructure needed to make that a reality (60 year old tankers, dwindling numbers of airlifters having the wings flown off of them with no planned replacements on the horizon);  Cutting ship building and replacement/refit of existing ships;  Contemplating mothballing aircraft carriers and entire battle groups.

Unless we are going to pull back and defend nothing but our own shores, this trend is suicidal.  But history has proven the strategy of isolationism to be suicidal as well.  If we don’t stay involved in world affairs and attempt to steer nations away from violence, those cancers will grow and eventually find their way to our shores.

Do we continue to burn truckloads of money in the fire place trying to heat our home while the front door is open (social spending and no accountability), or do we close the door and caulk the drafty windows?

Continuing down this path is going to ruin us.

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http://www.airforce-magazine.com/Pages/default.aspx

Daily Report

Friday May 07, 2010

Blacker Saturday?: Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to outline even deeper overall defense reductions in a speech he’s giving Saturday at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kan. The speech is part of the two-day celebration of the 65th anniversary of VE Day, the date of Germany’s surrender in World War II. Senior Pentagon officials said Gates’ speech to the Navy League on Monday—in which he warned that shipbuilding accounts will be too small to sustain the fleet at current levels—was “setting the stage” for Saturday’s presentation. Gates will outline more comprehensive reductions in force structure and, one official said, a “potential paradigm shift” in how the US will view international security. Officials compared what he will say to the presentation he made on April 6, 2009, now known as “Black Monday,” when he delineated budget cuts like halting F-22 production. Stay tuned.

—John A. Tirpak

Internal Problem: The Air Force budget is under attack from within, Secretary Michael Donley said Thursday. Speaking on Capitol Hill at the inaugural meeting of the Senate Aerospace Caucus, Donley said, “nearly every aspect of the Air Force budget is growing larger and faster than the Air Force budget.” He meant that the service’s topline isn’t keeping pace with the new missions USAF is required to take on. Donley said that 63 percent of the service’s spending is consumed by day-to-day operations. Of the 37 percent remaining, one quarter goes to combat air forces, with the F-35 taking 15 percent of that quarter. He said slightly more than half of investment dollars goes to “joint enablers” like airlift, tankers, and ISR, while space projects get 19 percent, and 22 percent is funneled into R&D. Of that last item, a big chunk goes into directed energy, nanotechnology, and long range strike.

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