Kosovodad: Proud to be a Soldier

Traumatic Brain Injury

2010-03-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it safely to Afghanistan. While here, I was contacted about helping to get the message out about TBI. Certainly we are suffering from our successes -- our improved body and vehicle armor has kept many from dying outright, but instead we now face increased numbers of TBI cases.

Here's some more information:

Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Military

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is becoming a common wound of modern warfare. It has even been coined the “signature wound” of the War on Terror. While TBI is becoming more prevalent in wartime activity, many service men and women continue to go undiagnosed. Institutions, like the US Department of Veterans Affairs, are working to make quick and accurate diagnoses in order to prescribe appropriate and effective treatment.

TBI is caused by forced trauma to the head, either by being shaken or hit. The severity of a TBI varies from case to case, but symptoms range from mild concussions to a debilitating state. The majority of TBI’s acquired by military personnel are classified as mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). Initial symptoms of MTBI consist of loss of consciousness, disorientation, loss of memory, headache, and temporary loss of hearing and vision. They are often partnered with anxiety, irritability, difficulties processing information, limited concentration amongst other problems experienced down the road. While MTBI is most common amongst the men and women of the armed forces, more severe cases of TBI are happening much more frequently and often require the victim to attended specialty rehabilitative nursing centers, like CareMeridian.

The most common cause of a TBI in the military is due to blasts. There are three degrees of blast injuries where a TBI is common; Primary (due to blast itself), Secondary (due to objects being propelled by a blast) and Tertiary (due to a collision with a third party object). According to the Veterans Health Initiative, active male members of the military from the ages 18-24 are hospitalized with a TBI at a rate of 231 per 100,000 and females 150 per 100,000. Based on military force projections this would mean that 4,141 military personnel are hospitalized on average each year with a TBI, and these numbers often rise during wartimes.

The best prevention for veterans to avert the long-term effects of a brain injury is to recognize the symptoms of a TBI. Once the symptoms are identified an individual should take basic precautionary measures in order to begin the healing and recovery process until a more specific diagnosis can be made.

Service men and women give so much to protect this country and they deserve to come home to a happy and healthy life. Creating awareness about TBI will help ensure their long term health. By helping our veterans, their friends and their families recognize the early warning signs of a TBI, treatment can be sought as early as possible.

The bottom line is that you agreed not to...

2009-09-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

this is just one of the many milblog references to the AP's posting of a photo of a young Marine fighting for his life, who subsequently passed away. The family of Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, killed in Afghanistan had reportedly asked

Here's the controversy in a nutshell

The picture, taken by embedded AP photographer Julie Jacobson, shows Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard suffering severe leg wounds from a rocket-propelled grenade fired at him in an ambush in Helmand province on Aug. 14.

The 21-year-old Marine's father, from New Portland, The AP said it decided to publish the photo even though Bernard's father objected. A Politico.com report claims Defense Secretary Robert Gates strongly objected to the organization's decision, and told the AP his feelings in a letter., reportedly asked the AP to take down the photo in an interview and follow-up phone call.

I have mixed feelings about this to be sure. The issue isn't as clear cut for me as it is for others.

A good friend of mine and great writer had this to say about the controversy. He has deployed to Iraq three times and been a tremendous Public Affairs Officer. He writes -- and writes well -- over at "Armed and Curious"

My response to his well-crafted post ran too long for the comments section so I put it here.

Fred,
I agree with your thoughts here as they pertain to the trust between journalists and our military. I think that the relationship -- tenuous at the best of times -- has been worsened by the actions of Ms Jacobson and her supporters at the AP.

So too, has the relationship between PAOs and our military forces been damaged. Our credibility is on the line, often with forces with whom we have had little time to build a critical relationship. Suddenly, we are introducing to their unit a reporter alongside whom they'll live -- and sometimes die -- and telling them that it's important in our obligation to inform the American people about our mission and the men and women who accomplish that mission.

Having just returned from 10 weeks at the Joint Forces Staff College, I was surprised at how little love there was for PAOs from operators and others, such as the IO community. At best, we are seen as a necessary evil and at worst, a complete roadblock to the success of the mission.

This situation certainly isn't going to help us the next time we need to convince a unit to take an embed along.

I am interested in seeing what steps the military will take towards Ms Jacobson for violating the terms of the agreement she signed. This is for no other reason than to see the message we will be sending to other journalists that will, and I do mean will, do such things in the future.

I agree that she should be sanctioned and removed from our military care (I mean dropped off somewhere safe, not in the middle of nowhere) because she violated the agreement she signed. But only for that reason.

I am not sure that the arguments about the wishes of the family or the potential use of such photos should be of paramount importance here.

Don't misunderstand: if we have the rule that photos that allow identification of a servicemember will not be allowed -- either by nametag or other distinguishing characteristic -- then we should support that rule and take actions when that rule is violated.

I certainly understand the feelings of the family, but wonder whether we open a dangerous precedent when we allow the feelings of the family to dictate what events, which happen in the public realm, will be covered in the media?

Is it really that far a jump from the Bernard family's decision to any family’s decision to say, "we don't want photos of our loved one to be published because of our feelings and the situation it creates for us." The principle of allowing a 3rd party to be the deciding factor in media coverage is a difficult one, full of larger implications that warrant discussion and exploration.

As far as showing photos like this as a general rule... I wonder whether it's not better for Americans to truly see what happens when they send young men and women who are fighting the nation's wars, or at the very least photos where a particular individual cannot be recognized. How else will Americans develop an appreciation for what we truly do, and the sacrifices we truly make? I don't see Americans developing this sense of appreciation from seeing flag-draped coffins, or a photo of a bugler at Arlington.

I do appreciate and understand the American sense of outrage at the AP over a sense of profiteering over the photo. Americans are keenly aware of anyone they see as taking "unfair advantage" of a situation to profit.

I just finished reading "Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior" in which the authors referred to a study where Americans were offered a choice. The choice was to take a split of 10$ predetermined by a complete stranger the chooser would never meet or know anything about. If the chooser accepted, then both parties would get the money, if the choice was rejected, then neither party got any money. Americans almost universally rejected any split that was not 50-50... claiming that it was "unfair" that a stranger would profit more than they, despite their receiving money for nothing. This principle held regardless of the total amount offered.

I can't help but wonder if the same principle is at work here for some people: that some people will refuse to see anything other than the AP and the reporter are gaining from this young Marine's death. Which they are, to be sure.

But as to what I would do in this situation: I would pull Ms Jacobson's credentials and send her packing. She violated her agreement, plain and simple. That's the deontological side speaking ... the consequentialist in me says that maybe there is more good than bad that comes from these types of photos... I just don't know. But I know the answer isn't simple and is full of the 2nd & 3rd order effects of which you so eloquently refer.

At the end, all I can be sure of is that this Marine's death -- like so many others -- is a terrible tragedy, and that I hope that some good comes from it in Afghanistan and other places around the world. Bless him and his family!

And thank you for always making me think... I really wish we could have been stationed at the same post at the same time!

Mike

crossposted to www.kosovodad.blogspot.com
KD

I am at the Army Worldwide Public Affairs Seminar

2009-05-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well, the fun starts tomorrow.

I am sure we'll discuss the Army's new blog, found here.

Sadly ironic that we are having a seminar about the importance of social media, at the same time that Army PAOs have to beg permission to access the same from their work computers...

Year of the NCO videos

2009-04-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something to enjoy given that it's the Year of the NCO.

Is the new Army-brand cycle jacket an i-wreck waiting to happen?

2009-04-19T03:25:00.000-07:00

It's no secret we have had an alarming rise in motorcycle deaths in the past few years, especially among sport bikers.

A few months ago, the service secretaries met with motorcycle manufacturers to discuss the trend.

The secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force met with four major motorcycle makers Jan. 15. The discussion focused on motorcycle safety and how sport bikes are marketed to service members. read the full story.

The military has attacked this issue numerous ways: safety courses, motorcycle rallies, and my favorite (seriously) ... rally days where they encourage fast riding in a safe, controlled environment.

I haven't had the opportunity to ride much here in Korea, but I certainly expect to at my next PAO assignment. So, I was in the Military Clothing Sales store when I saw one of the newest "Power Trip" Army-branded motorcycle jackets. I bought this model.

I really like the jacket ... it's got some nice touches like reflective strips that fold out for riding, but tuck away for wearing; jacket loops that attach to your belt so the jacket doesn't ride up during a fall; pads for the shoulders and elbows and an option to put in a heavier pad for the back.

But one thing bothers me: with the increase in motorcycle deaths, did we really need this?

It might just be me ... but do we want Soldiers listening to their iPods while operating THE piece of equipment most likely to be involved in their peacetime early death?

Or am I over thinking things?

--Mike

How I knew I would hate teaching.

2009-04-12T04:05:00.000-07:00

I remember the day I said to myself, “there’s no way in hell I ever want to be a teacher”.

I had told my 9th grade Anatomy & Physiology teacher I was considering teaching. When I asked him about it; he mentioned it got easier as he went along.

He said something like, “You know, I’ve taught the same classes for 14 years. You could pick any day of the year, and I could teach that lesson from memory.”

I was horrified.

I couldn’t conceive of doing the same thing every day for 3 years, let alone 14.

It’s one of the reasons I love the Army… after about 2 years in a job, it’s time to move, but you take your seniority with you. After moving 12 times in 17 years, I have never had to worry about knowing the day’s lesson plan in advance.

Ironically though, I received an email the other day from a Soldier who thanked me for everything that he had learned while in my command.

It’s one of the things I love the most about being a leader in the Army: taking care of Soldiers.

And one of the ways we do that is of course:

The teaching.

Lost Generation

2009-03-22T07:26:00.001-07:00

This is an incredible ... and incredibly creative video I came across last week. Watch the whole thing, and enjoy!

Why the Mainstream Media lose trust, viewers and readers

2009-03-15T07:20:00.001-07:00

I don't know who hasn't heard by now about the recent back-and-forth between Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" and Jim Cramer of CNBC. Mr. Cramer has a show entitled "Mad Money with Jim Cramer"

Here's how the media covered the spat between the two gentlemen.

Mr. Cramer put his head in the proverbial lion's mouth by being a guest on "The Daily Show". He apparently didn't catch on when Mr. Stewart had the entire episode set aside for this one guest, and I guess he thought that he had already seen every video clip of himself that Jon Stewart had.

He was wrong... comically, pathetically, sadly, wrong.

But the greater sadness is having to ask the question, "why does it take a comedy show to ask the tough questions about the financial mess?" Why is Jon Stewart the only guy who will say to someone like Jim Cramer, "It's like this is a big joke to you ... and it's not f#$%-ing funny".

Worst of all, why does the mainstream media, whose supposedly has the mission to "comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable" choose to cover the fight between these two, and not the reason for the fight in the first place?

Here's how the Jim Cramer Hindenburg crashed on The Daily Show....

Good staff work?

2009-03-07T19:35:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have given a lot of thought to this blog as well as other forms of communication such as Facebook (I’m the Mike Lawhorn in the yellow jacket on the Great Wall of China) etc.

I have decided I am going to keep this blog, but will commit to updating it on a regular basis – for me, this means Sunday Korean time.

This will help me organize and commit my time as well as ensuring anyone who’s actually still reading this knows when to expect something new.

I really appreciate anyone who’s out there taking the time to check this blog… thanks for your support!

GOOD STAFF WORK: should Mrs. Clinton and President Obama expect more?

Recently Secretary Clinton gave the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, a button that says “overcharge” as opposed to “recharge” (in Russian) and The Guardian ran a story saying the President gave the British Prime Minister a box of 25 movie DVDs.

See the Clinton video here.

As a commander, I understand and fully embrace that I am responsible for everything my unit does or fails to do. But politics aside, doesn’t Sec. Clinton have a reasonable expectation that her staff has been over this translation time and time again?

And for the president, doesn’t his staff say, “let’s do something more than run to Best Buy for a gift”?

What’s next, the staff recommends the Spanish Ambassador gets a $50 gift card to Red Lobster?

UN and North Korean Generals open talks...

2009-03-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

You can get more from the USFK web site.

(UNC) March 2, 2009 – General officers from the United Nations Command and the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) met today to discuss issues of mutual trust and tension reduction. These are the first such talks after almost a seven-year hiatus.

Representing the UNC were Maj. Gen. Johnny Weida, U.S. Air Force; Brigadier Gen. Lee Chang-hyun, Republic of Korea Air Force; Brigadier Matthew O’Hanlon, Commonwealth Member of the Military Armistice Commission from the United Kingdom; and Colonel Harold Cockburn, rotating member from New Zealand.

The KPA were represented by Maj. Gen. Kwak,Chul-hui.
During the 32-minute meeting, which began at 10 a.m. in Panmunjom, both sides discussed measures to reduce tensions and introduce transparency.

The UNC and KPA representatives agreed to further discussions. “The UNC welcomed this discussion with North Korea which holds the prospect for building trust and preventing misunderstandings between both sides,” said Maj. Gen. Johnny Weida, head of delegation for the UNC.

Smallest Possible Groups

2009-02-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

Over at Ypulse, a great site for Youth Marketing ideas and discussions... Anastias has a thought provoking question:

The entire post

Brands To Virtual Worlds: Show Me The [Real] Money
Posted by anastasia on 02-19-2009
This week I went "on the road" to meet with some different companies in the Bay Area that we hope will get involved with our Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup in June. One of the companies sells advertising (among other things) for lots of youth oriented sites including virtual worlds. Another company offers portable avatars where you can surf the web with your avatar buddies picking up virtual goods along the way.

I'm no expert in virtual worlds, but what these youth-y virtual worlds (and according to today's Research Roundup, there are 200+ now) all love to say is that kids and teens are demanding brands in world. And I believe it — who wouldn't want virtual Nikes or Adidas vs. virtual generic sneakers? I get the demand for personalization and how much brands have become a part of their online identities (as well as off).

Then she asked: Do these worlds give some kids a way to be the cool/rich avatar without having real world money or just encourage more of that kind of behavior offline? Do you see the presence of brands in these worlds as benign or troubling?

Here's what I wrote; what do you think?

I see them as benign -- at least as far as they represent traditional human behavior in every other area.

Now I'll say something heretical: seeking brands in virtual worlds has nothing to do with social media, virtual or viral marketing, "new" teens and tweens, branding or anything else.

It has to do with the intersection of 2 human needs: one is to be an individual and the other is to be accepted as a member of a group. Where these needs meet are your "smallest possible group". It's why fads are cyclical. It's also why, when groups become large enough, there have to be new ways to differentiate between people.

When "X" first becomes popular, very few people do "X" so merely doing it makes you a member of the smallest possible group. Once enough people do "X", the group members need additional distinguishing criteria ... hence, in this case, the need for additional brand items.

Your tax dollars at www.whitehouse.gov

2009-01-21T16:59:00.000-08:00

Hat tip to the Ace Of Spades HQ.

Is this what passes for learning to embrace new media? Or does this mean we are no longer "... ferocious in battle ... magnanimous in victory.."

You can find the www.whitehouse.gov post here, under "additional issues" on THE OFFICIAL White House web site.

President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.

President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush Administration's "unconscionable ineptitude" in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.

President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever.

Follow up to the Dear John Letter

2009-01-12T22:40:00.001-08:00

This is one of those days where I have hope that the Army is beginning to understand how important it is to get the message out early and often.

Here's what showed up on You Tube;

The entire USA will start receiving digital TV next month ... maybe.

2009-01-11T23:48:00.000-08:00

I remember being in Kindergarten in 1968 and being told we had to start learning the metric system because the entire United States was going to "go metric" within 10 years.

Well, we got the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, but we didn't get complete conversion.

Now that it's time to make the switch to digital TV; some folks are a little outside their comfort zone, but say they want to delay because of the "most vulnerable Americans".

We are supposed to switch over by Feb. 17, according to www.dtv.gov, which has this blurb:

On February 17, 2009 all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality and additional channels.

Sounds to me like we are still miles away ... which is 1.609344 times further away in kilometers.

Army sends thousands of John Doe letters

2009-01-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

This letter just showed up on the "Army Long Term Family Case Management Web Site"

Apparently several thousand letters were sent to advise family members of organizations that want to offer gifts to Families of Soldiers who have died in OEF/OIF. Because of a terrible oversight, many of these letters were addressed to "John Doe". In addition to the web posting below, every survivor is getting an apology letter. The unofficial story is that the printer didn't send a proof letter back to the Army before sending out the letters to survivors.

But the Army is doing the right thing: you don't blame the printer (at least not in public, but you can bet someone is catchin' heck right now). You step up, admit the mistake and make amends as best you can.

You can never make this okay ... you can keep it from becoming a disaster by doing what is right by the people who have been hurt.

We recently mailed you a letter sharing information about organizations offering gifts and services to Survivors of Soldiers killed in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. This letter contained an unfortunate error in the salutation, addressing every Survivor as "John Doe."

There are no words to adequately apologize for this mistake or the hurt it may have caused you and your Family. Every Family affected by this error will receive a personal letter of apology. Moreover, I am working diligently to ensure this type of error does not occur again.

On behalf of the entire Army, please accept my personal apology for this unintentional error and any discomfort it may have caused. My staff remains dedicated to helping you and will be available at our toll-free number, 866-272-5841, if you should have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Reuben D. Jones
Brigadier General, U.S. Army
The Adjutant General

Taking Chance

2009-01-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

Please check out the trailer for this HBO special, called “Taking Chance” where Kevin Bacon plays a Marine LTC escorting the remains of a young PFC back to his home.

I am currently trying to see if the AFN Broadcast Center can get this for AFN to air overseas.

Thanks to BlackFive for the post!

Gen Y at work

2009-01-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

Something interesting I found over at YPulse: Youth marketing to teens, tweens & Generation Y (Gen Y).

Anastasia Goodstein - Ypulse founder - writes about whether it's a good thing to segregate Gen Y employees into homogeneous groups as a way to spark innovation.

She makes a good point: there's a larger problem of re-invigorating the workplace; it's good for everyone, not just the younger employees.

But I wonder whether either option -- innovation groups separated or not separated by age -- solves the real problem. Is it age that's the real barrier to innovation, especially in a economical downturn?

In many cases in the military, the lack of innovation isn't really because of a true lack of ideas -- even across generations. It's not even -- believe it or not -- mostly due to our hierarchical structure in the military. Our young people are not intimidated from coming up with good ideas on their own.

Innovation is like many other behaviors: you get more of what you subsidize.

Our problem is mainly a lack of resources. We have the ideas; we just don't have the time, people or money to implement them. We are rarely allowed to drop one task to become innovative with another. And because we are not a "for-profit" organization, we find it especially difficult to "prove" a new idea works. Innovation generally requires we invest a significant amount of time outside the "normal" day, and with little or no support.

I am often amused when we are challenged to "think outside the box" or to "embrace Web 2.0 as much as the terrorists have".

Well, the problem is that the terrorists don't have to wade through 6 months of paperwork to get permission to access YouTube from their work computers.

Happy New Year -- let's start with some weed pulling!

2008-12-31T18:39:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone has a great New Year, complete with incredible opportunities and adventures. I spent ours with my family and friends at a New Year's Bowling Party at the local lanes: we have gone the last 3 years now, and we had a super time.

Then I got up this morning and spent 45 minutes deleting all the "free World of Warcraft gold" comments from my past blog posts. WoW is right! These guys have the busiest little spambots in the world. But now we are spam free ...

A great way to start the new year.

My resolutions: do less exercise and eat more cake... I am tired of making resolutions I can't keep and these seem pretty easy.

A new house?

2008-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well, all good things must come to an end – and in the military, that means it’s time for a PCS – or permanent change of station – move.

We don’t know exactly when or where, but we are expecting this summer, and possibly heading off to CENTCOM. You may remember them as the first military organization to gain notice for their engagement strategy regarding the blogosphere. We hope to know for sure sometime in the next month or so.

In the meantime, we have been considering whether to buy or rent in the Tampa Bay area, where MacDill AFB and CENTCOM are located.

I have found this great blog that has lots of information about national housing markets. The author doesn’t seem to think we have nearly hit the bottom of the market yet and lays out a rather compelling case.

Take a look; it’s definitely worth the read.

You can find the “Dr. Housing Bubble Blog” here

Here’s a link that explains the Case Shiller Home Price Indices

The character of a man

2008-09-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

My CSM sent this link to everyone today ... a compelling story about an Air Force officer who lost his son in Iraq.

... and the President who cared enough to take some time with a mother and father.

On Dec. 10, 2006, our son, Shawn, was a paratrooper deployed on the outskirts of Baghdad. He was supposed to spend the night in camp, but when a fellow soldier became ill Shawn volunteered to take his place on a nighttime patrol--in the convoy's most exposed position as turret gunner in the lead Humvee. He was killed instantly with two other soldiers when an IED ripped through their vehicle.

Read the full story here

The Ypulse Mashup

2008-08-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

So my good friend, the director of the Partners In Education program (he even lets me call him the "PIE Guy") says, "Hey, let's go to this conference, it'll be fun." Apparently it's all about reaching out to young people on the Internet...and not in some pervy, facing-felony-conviction way either.

Of course, at the last minute he bails and I am committed to something called the Ypulse Mashup. It turns out that this is incredibly interesting and full of folks who are amazing marketers, great people, and on doing amazing things.

Ypulse is a media platform for youth media and marketing professionals. Ypulse publishes a blog, Ypulse.com; a newsletter, the Ypulse Daily Update; and produces several conferences each year, the Ypulse Mashup events.

Founded in May of 2004 by journalist Anastasia Goodstein, Ypulse provides news, commentary and resources about commercial media for teens (teen magazines, websites), entertainment for teens (movies, video games, television, music, books), technology used by teens (cell phones, instant messaging, hardware and software), the news media's desire to attract teens (newspapers, cable news), marketing and advertising (targeting the teen market) and non-profit youth media (highlighting organizations' efforts at promoting youth voices in media and creating media by and for youth).

Not only did I have some serious networking opportunities among marketing professionals, I was treated to some valuable insight into the 9-18 year old mind.

I got to see an early premiere of the forthcoming movie, “American Teen”; C&R Research folks talked about the social and leisure habits of 9-18 year olds. Bill Carter from Fuze Marketing spoke on emerging teen technology trends in a session entitled “What’s next in Teen Mobile Space” and my favorite, a session about the success of ABS and their “Shadow Notebook” (5 subject tabbed notebooks given out for free to every college student on a particular campus…paid for by advertising on the tabs).

SURPRISING FACT: TV advertising is still more memorable than web-based, magazine, or radio advertising…Entertainment sells products: especially with humor or music

58% said funny ads most memorable
33% remembered great music
25% remembered honesty
15% identified with “people my age”

This was a surprise for me...I have often said that the best PSAs have "someone like me" in them for Soldiers -- especially young Soldiers to identify with. Apparently we just need to be funnier.

I am not sure I am ready to let that Genie out of the bottle :) Our producers often think they are funnier than they are...although I'm not 20 anymore, maybe I'm not as funny as I think I am either.

Nah...

More on the USFK Curfew...

2008-07-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

Here's the actual link to the official policies on Curfew & Driving

So here's a little more of what we do here at AFN Korea. Our folks cut this within a few hours yesterday, after the USFK Commander and Command Sergeant Major came in to talk about the new policy.

I don't feel the command is going to make a decision in the next 6 months based on a certain cut-off point. By that I mean, I don't think that "X" number of incidents will result in the policy being rescinded, OR that "only a few" will mean that the policy will be continued or expanded.

If it were me, I'd certainly be making my decision based on how serious any incidents were, did they involve local nationals, etc. etc. A couple of GIs beating each other up at 0230 isn't going to make me think this is a bad policy...beating up an old Korean woman is a different story.

That's one major difference between the American & Korean cultures: the Koreans are more likely to see you as a rep for your entire culture. Americans found it hard to understand, for example, why Koreans apologized for the VA tech shooting.

I don't think Americans in general, and younger Americans in particular, understand that part of the culture and why things that we do here are "different" than the same stuff at, say, Fort Bragg.

Of course, maybe they do, and they just think it's unfair and shouldn't be that way.

Your thoughts?

15 Aug means later curfews and easier rules for cars.

2008-07-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today the USFK Commander, GEN Walter Sharp, and CSM Robert Winzenried, made the announcement about the new USFK policies on driving and curfew.

The best part is that the command’s attitude is that, while they recognize that any one Soldier has the ability to affect the reputation of the command, we shouldn’t keep punishing everyone for the actions of a very few…

In GEN Sharp’s own words…

…we have great service members in our military; the great, great majority of them will always do the right thing. I do not believe we should punish these great service members for the acts a very few. We must also understand the acts a one or two can effect the strength of the ROK-US Alliance. Korean culture believes the acts of each individual reflect on the character of all.

CURFEW POLICY: the curfew restrictions on Friday night, Saturday, Sunday morning and U.S.-observed holidays will change from 0100-0500 to 0300-0500 but if you are on leave, you are exempt from curfew entirely, except the night before you are scheduled to report back to work.

POV POLICY: Basically, now if you are a command sponsored service member, you no longer have to get permission from the 1^st Lt. Col. In your change of command to own a car. Also, ALL service members may take the drivers license test and be licensed with the approval of the first O5 in their chain of command.

My call on the curfew issue? We’ll see absolutely no difference for 30-45 days, because no one wants their unit to have the first guy (or gal) busted at 0245 in the morning…after a while, we’ll see a small spike with a few incidents, but they will be similar to the usual nonsense and at about the 4 month-mark, it will level off to about what it is now.

I am going to have faith that 1^st line NCOs are going to do what they have always done for the most part…keep their service members out of trouble.

As for AFN, we'll have coverage on the radio and we have made 2 spots, which I will post here...

And it's just now let up...

2008-07-28T04:31:00.000-07:00

Well here it is 10 days later and the rain has just now let up. Which isn't necessarily a good thing, because the rain -- while hot -- is nothing compared to the stifling heat that rolls in after the rain lets out.

Go ahead...you know you want to toss in, "Hey, I'll bet it's hotter in Iraq" and you'd be right. But you know, that's the answer to everything when you're in Korea.

Speaking of being in Korea, our higher headquarters -- The Soldiers Media Center -- puts out "SOLDIERS" magazine, and the August issue, seen here, is all about Korea. Our Command Sergeant Major, John Brenci, wrote the article about AFN Korea.

Enjoy!

Back in Korea...

2008-07-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

and just in time for monsoon season!

Here's a picture from my back porch during this morning's monsoon. The rain is extremely warm and just sets the tone for the rest of the day. But no matter -- I've got plenty to do today. I just rescued my dogs from the kennel yesterday. After 12 days, they were ready to come home. And since the wife and kids are back in Indiana right now, both of them were able to sleep in the bed with me... I think all of us were pretty happy about that.

That haze in the background isn't a problem of lighting...you really can't see very far because of the incredible humidity.

Tony Snow -- an amazing man

2008-07-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

I am in San Francisco right now, and late last night I found out that Tony Snow had passed away. I called my wife right away, and we talked about it for several minutes. You see, I had had the extremely good fortune to have worked at the Tony Snow show during the last week than it actually WAS the Tony Snow show.

It was while I was in the Army’s Training with Industry program at Fox News. I spent a week down in Washington, DC. It was incredible. Every morning we would come in at 5:30 a.m., grab a cup of coffee, and meet in Tony’s office to discuss the news of the day.

This was of course, the week that Tony was making his decision about becoming the White House press secretary. Tony asked for everyone’s opinion, including mine.

That was the thing that I noticed immediately about Tony – everybody was an equally respected part of the team.

The first day I was there for his radio show, we were getting worried because we were 30 seconds from the star of the show and Tony was still in the restroom.

I will never forget what happened next.

Literally, at four seconds before we went on the air, Tony walks in from the other room holding a cup of coffee. The music was playing, and he sent his cup of coffee down, picked up his headphones, and started talking right on time. He talked nonstop for 18 ½ minutes – I know because I kept track. He spoke intelligently, he never stumbled or stuttered and his thoughts were well-organized and eloquent.

I was amazed.

Tony Snow – an incredible human being.

I am in the Army because -- apparently -- I can't read.

2008-05-07T00:46:00.000-07:00

HT to Milblogs...

Newsbusters has the video of author Stephen King telling some very bored-looking students about why the ability to read is so important...it will keep you from being sent to Iraq.

I am always amazed when people like this are so publicly elitist. Do they really still believe this nonsense or is it just something to say to pass the time? My favorite part of his quote is,

I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that.

--Mike

Worldwide D&D Games Day

2008-05-06T04:57:00.001-07:00

Okay, here's our standard announcement: A buddy of mine and I decided to take this on this year.

Be one of the first in Korea to play the 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons!
June 7th is Worldwide D&D Game Day, and we are looking for players.
This year’s adventure is “Into the Shadowhaunt” and is open to any ID card holder, 18 yrs or older, with access to US military bases in Korea.

Interested? Email: Michael.lawhorn@us.army.mil

and please include: Your name, email address, and your nearest military base. A contact phone number would be great.

Please mention if you are interested in DM-ing this year’s adventure. DMs will get in advance the adventure, dice, figures, a full-color map and everything to run a game. We only need 1 DM and 4-6 players for each group and can easily support multiple groups.

Let us know if you are willing to be your base’s coordinator. We need help getting the adventures handed out and organizing where people can play.

Tell your friends the deadline is 25 May, so email soon.

Master Gygax is dead ... why why why?

2008-03-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe, harder still to understand. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons has passed away.

I'm just another one of those kids that got hooked in the late 70s, when my simple magic user with a dagger got killed by an orc. I formed our school's DnD club. I went to the school board meeting where they decided not to pay our teacher who was volunteering his time to mentor the DnD club (all other teacher-mentors got paid) because another teacher complained about the school subsidizing satanic influences.

And here I am, all these years later, an active duty army officer and battalion commander...still playing, but my group is now made up of nurses, military commanders, teachers, national intel types, and others who have been very successful.

I owe quite a bit to that game, and to the man behind it. An equal facility with math, and with people; an ability to think creatively; lifelong friends; and a love of oddly-shaped dice.

Thank you so much Mr Gygax ... for so much.

Lt. Col. Mike Lawhorn
U.S. Army

We're from the government and we're here to help.

2007-09-24T06:35:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070920/ap_on_go_co/air_travel

But is Congress really helping us?

So we’ve had some media attention paid to those that have suffered extraordinary delays and lived horror stories while traveling by air.

What happens when corporations are stepping on us little people? Congress helps out of course. How do they help? By raising taxes on those evil corporations … because those fees won’t get passed on to the little people. The best part of all is that Congress helps us out and gets to keep the money. You should be happy to pay that extra money, it’s the government’s way of helping.

Sometimes I’d like a little less help.

From the article:

The measure would increase the jet fuel tax for noncommercial planes from 21.8 cents per gallon to 30.7 cents and the aviation gasoline tax from 19.3 cents to 24.1 cents. It would also raise the cap on fees airports can charge passengers for capital improvements from $4.50 a flight to $7.

But lawmakers, among the nation's legions of frequent fliers, were particularly interested in aspects of the bill dealing with airport congestion and delays.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., whose committee signed off on the tax measures, said there wasn't anyone from either party who "didn't believe that this was our time to tell these aviation people that we passengers were suffering in such a way that we were going to express it through the tax system. People on the tarmac for three, four, five hours. Flights being canceled, weather conditions we never heard of, overcrowding."

We're going to express our suffering by paying even higher prices and giving that extra money to Congress ... so take that!!!

Now that I'm in command...

2007-07-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

So back in 2004 when I was at Fort Irwin, the garrison commander wanted the staff to take pictures for a photo board. You've seen this before; where everyone has the dull look of a trapped animal. I figured I would do something a little different and had a nice photo taken of me outside my building...sitting on my new Harley. Nothing crazy, no gang signs, etc. Well, the command flipped out and made me change the photo.

I always thought: what better way to show that your unit is somewhere where people want to work than to have a little fun with these photos? I mean, in many cases, it's the first indicator that anyone sees about your unit's personality.

So fast forward three years...I'm in command of my own unit, and guess what? We're going to do a photo board. Well, I gave some initial guidance, my NCOs are putting this thing together and I told everyone they can submit "candid" photos.

I went ahead and set the example, finally getting to do the picture I wanted to do three years ago.

What does Cindy say about her Boy-Toy Hugo now?

2007-05-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

Ironically enough, Cindy was only able to become as well-known as she did in a country that has freedom of the press. Only here was she able to criticize the government and the president and enjoy the complete support of the national media.

Her pal, Hugo Chavez, has a different opinion about what to do with the media when they support those that criticize the government...good thing Cindy only had good things to say about him, huh?

Maybe she'd be happier if President Bush stopped "trying awful hard to catch up with killing innocent Iraqis" and started cracking down on the national media.

Or maybe she'll just be happier not being the self-proclaimed "face of the antiwar movement" anymore.

State St. Twin Towers by Travis

2007-05-22T15:59:00.001-07:00

Hat tip to Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive...this is real time, and real talent as this guy knocks out an amazing 9/11 piece in just minutes.

Cops bust Soldier's ribs: incident "still under investigation"

2007-05-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

Doc in the box has the story about an Army Soldier receiving three broken ribs from police at the airport in Las Vegas.

All this apparently over a water bottle, that eventually cause the Soldier to miss his plane. When the Soldier went back to speak to a supervisor, the cops apparently decided they didn't have to give him any answer that didn't involve electricity.

Sgt Mark T. England of the US Army National Guard was a medic getting ready to deploy forward with his unit when the March 10th incident happened at the McCarren International Airport in Las Vagas. Mark was tased 3 times and beat with night clubs by 2 Las Vagas police officers the second video is shot it from a different angle and shows another police officer joking and making kicking motions with a TSA agent. When it was all done and over with Mark was left with bruses all over his body, 3 fractured ribs and questions. Two months later, still no charges were filed against him and he been unable to deploy due to his injuries.

HT to Blackfive.

Maybe I'm hyper sensitive to reporters...you decide

2007-04-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

From the April 29 Wash Post...check Ricks' comment "slightly edited for length". I say, "for Pete's sake...you couldn't leave that out while editing for length?" Read on and you'll see what I mean.

Or am I being too picky?

--Mike

Washington Post
April 29, 2007
Pg. B3

Tom Ricks's Inbox

Some of the most interesting accounts of the Iraq war have come in notes from young soldiers writing to comrades who are preparing to deploy to the country.

Here, Army Lt. Brendan Hagan, a resident of Arlington and a recent graduate of George Washington University, advises an ROTC buddy on what to bring with him (the letter has been edited slightly for space). Hagan is now a highly regarded infantry platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division, operating near the town of Samarra:

* * *

Date: Mar 24, 2007 8:02 AM

Subject: Could be useful to you, could be crap

Hi Adam,

Well, I am finally sitting down to try and put some stuff on paper. These will be rambling thoughts so you will have to take them or leave them. . . .

What are the top pieces of equipment you wish you had/didn't know you needed?

*Desert ghillie suits or ghillie blankets [used to camouflage snipers]. We use abandoned houses and shacks when possible, but it does not always work out. So the ability to hide in the open is critical for engaging IED emplacers. Besides you can only use an abandoned house a few times before the enemy will catch on and booby trap them.

*Spotter scopes or good binos are a must. Every vehicle needs to have a good set of binos. IEDs are usually surface laid, but the enemy uses trash, bushes and even sandbags to hide them. After a while you learn what to look for, but the binos give you standoff for suspicious objects and allow you to assess whether it is an IED or not.

*Always carry everything you might need in the vehicles. Think of as many contingencies as you can and be prepared to execute any of them at any given time. Example: conducting a hasty raid. To start with you have to get in, so you need shotguns. Have at least one on each patrol (I have one in each team). In addition, sometimes you run into steel doors and a picket pounder is more useful to batter it in. As for flash-bangs [non-lethal grenades] use them when the situation merits. Also understand that raiding tools are different in different environments. Outside the City of Samarra a shotgun is usually all that is needed because the houses are not usually walled and the doors are mostly wood.

*Always have all your night fighting equipment with you (i.e. thermals, NVGs [night vision goggles] and tac lights). The situation is always changing, you might go out on a short patrol early in the morning and get diverted to something that lasts all night long. Just be prepared for it. . . . If we strike an IED the thermals are back up instantly scanning to the flanks for movement. I also have an LRAS on one of my truck. This is an amazing thermal [imager] that can see a man picking his nose at 3 km. It is an awesome tool, which stays on at night and scans ahead and to the flanks constantly.

*Make sure all extra ammo for the crew-served weapon is NOT inside the crew compartment. The two catastrophic kills we had on Hummers had extra .50 cal rounds inside the crew compartment. As troopers came to aid and get survivors out, rounds were cooking off in the fire, creating more of a danger. Keep them in the trunk, behind the blast doors or make buzzle racks on the sides of the turret. I like them on the turret, that way the ammo is at hand for the gunner and in the event of a catastrophic IED the rounds will most likely be blown away from the vehicle, causing less of a hazard for everyone.

*Have fire blankets on all vehicles in a standard location. IEDs often are Arty [artillery] rounds with some kind of accelerant attached (meaning cans of home made napalm or gas). They do this to try and burn the vehicle down. The IED will probably not destroy the vehicle, but if the accelerant gets on the tires, it will burn the truck to the ground. The blankets will let you extinguish burning personnel and help you get them out of the truck.

*Be very careful when driving on dirt roads. Don't do it if you don't have too. That is where the enemy kills us. Dirt roads facilitate large catastrophic IEDs and allow the enemy to dig them in right under the vehicle. The hummer does not take a mine strike well. My platoon struck a pair of large AT [anti-tank] mines double stacked and rigged with pressure wire.

The explosion killed everyone inside, the only thing left was the trunk section of the vehicle. Our Charlie company had a similar event, but in addition when their buddies came to their aid, one stepped on a secondary pressure wire, killing several more. In all they lost eight dead from that event and two wounded. Huge loss. To help mitigate this, do an assessment of the dirt road you want to use. Do local nationals use that road frequently or do they avoid it? Is it a road that only military traffic uses? Can I get there a different way? Do I set a pattern when I use it? Ways to avoid getting hit with a big killer are to vary your routes. Dismount and go in across country, air assault, boat ops, etc. Remember the enemy is smart and adaptive, they have been doing this for five years and the dumb ones die quick.

*When a vehicle does get disabled by an IED or mine, slow down and look for secondaries before you move up to aid. Don't rush up to them, approach with caution and make sure there are no more IEDs. Almost all secondaries are within 35 meters [yards] of the first one. I know you want to get to them but you might get more troopers killed by rushing.

*Don't be afraid to dismount. Many units don't want to get out of their vehicles and are afraid to do so. Luckily, my paratroopers prefer to be out of them. Vehicles limit you to roads, and roads are where IEDs are. Vehicles are also large and noisy, they allow the enemy to keep track of you easily. Moving dismounted in the dark, helps us get where we have to go undetected. . . .

*Whenever you talk to someone get their full name. There will always be three. Their name, their fathers name and their grandfathers name. It seems tedious, but it is very useful. Through names we know who their brothers are, cousins, uncles etc. Their naming system helps to make connections between people. On top of names, you must understanding the importance of tribe/sub-tribe. When we showed up here we had a terrible RIP [relief in place, or turnover from one unit to the next]. The company we were replacing had been confined to the FOB [forward operating base] for the previous three months, because of bad stuff. . . . I'll leave it at that. Covering the sector was one platoon from another company and they knew very little. Bottom line is the previous unit never learned enough to understand the importance of sub-tribes. Everyone here is a member of a tribe, which is a large unit. What is important to know is their sub-tribe, the clan or group of families within the tribe. With this information and a person's full name you can track most people down. . . .

One way we've used simple info to get great results was with a [weapons] cache we found in an unused orchard. We stumbled onto the largest cache ever found in our division's history, by accident. But we used simple reasoning to lead us to another of equal size. When we found the first one we grabbed the local sub-sheik and showed him what was within his area of influence, then used him to tell us who owned every piece of land from the river to a major road in the region. It turned out that the land the cache was on and numerous other tracks of land were owned by a father and series of brothers. We used this info to search other orchards owned by the brothers and found a second large cache.

Seems simple, but most people would not have asked who owned all the adjacent land and put the family connections together. This allowed us to refine our searches to specific fields and orchards.

. . . One last thing to remember is to use your personnel that have been here before, but do not get sucked into the that's-not-how-we-did-it-last-time thing. Their basic knowledge is good to have and they should be a dependable person when the bullets start flying, but your deployment will be extremely different from their last one. Remember to change your TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures] when it is appropriate. The situation here changes all the time. IEDs become more complex and the enemy becomes more ingenious as time passes. When your guys were here before, the rule was to drive as fast as you can so that the IEDs blow up behind you. Well, now we drive very slow (any where from 15-35 mph, situation dependent), so as to see them first and not get blown up at all. Everyone will have a different opinion on this, but that is what works for us. . . .

Good luck and I will look after your girl for you when I get home, don't want her to get lonely.

Brendan

Sew Much Comfort & longer tours on The Pentagon Channel

2007-04-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Check out Ginger Dosedel, the founder of Sew Much Comfort at around the 4:50 mark.

SSG (P) Jake Newman was on my first Public Affairs unit as SPC Newman...It's nice to see good guys move up. There's a future Command Sergeant Major for you.

Mike

Fighting the War of Ideas Like a Real War

2007-04-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

Fighting the War of Ideas Like a Real War

This is author J. Michael Waller's attempt to formulate a much more immediate strategy to combat the propaganda of the Islamic terrorist. He argues that the US relies too heavily on ponderous, slow-to-react, public diplomacy that cannot react quickly enough to counterattack a lie-filled and internet-fueled ideology. We need to accelerate "the tempo and intensity of the nation's conduct of the war of ideas."

He succintly states a number of points often ignored both in the tactical conduct of the war of ideas and the strategic conflict in the realm of public diplomacy to which we should pay more heed:

--We cannot credibly sell a bad policy no matter how it is packaged
--There are many other issues that people will support as long as the United States is not the messenger
--Explaining US policies and culture, and non-offensive messages about American ideals, are vital but insufficient for current realities

There are others, finishing with:

--We cannot afford to wait for the cumulative effect of traditional public diplomacy to work because we have lost several years; our information initiative and our troops need the support now, and we risk running out of time in current war zones and other parts of the world

I do take issue with his contention that many Information Operations are shut down by PAOs afraid of violating the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. It is true that US Forces are not allowed to conduct IO against US citizens, even if there is a substantial chance of influencing an enemy. However, I don't believe that many IO proposed abroad are "shut down" by PAOs afraid that the effects may unintentionally reach Arabic speaking US citizens, thus violating Smith-Mundt.

While his first chapter, found at the site above, is somewhat simplistic, it does make me look forward to the forthcoming chapters and to reading more of his works.

His most basic argument is spot on: we're not going to win by simply communicating good things about us (even though I personally think we're doing a much better job of it than before). We are going to have to start communicating ugly things (or doing a better job of it) about the enemy as well.

Check it out.

HERITAGE FOUNDATION:

2007-03-28T06:05:00.001-07:00

Big hat tips to "Pass the Brass" and "Pat Dollard" for finding this:

Evan Sayet lays out what makes the modern liberal mind tick. It's long (more than 30 mins, they leave 13 mins at the end for questions) but well worth a listen.

Sample: “There is no journalistic standard, none, zero, zilch, by which the misdeeds of a handful of night guards at an obscure prison for terrorists - misdeeds in which nobody was killed, nobody was seriously hurt - there is no journalistic standard by which this is a front page story in the New York Times. Much less for two days in a row. Five days in a row. Ten days in a row. Twenty days in…forty four straight days this non-story was a front page story in the New York Times. Why? Because while it met no journalistic standard, it met the one and only modern liberal standard. It said, “Do you think America’s good? We found something that’s gonna make you not believe that any longer.”

Evan Sayet - Writer, Lecturer and Pundit

Joint Forces Command takes a tip from CENTCOM

2007-03-23T07:12:00.001-07:00

Well, I got the weirdest email a few days ago...It was weird because I'm already an Army Public Affairs Officer.

Hello,
I am a military journalist with U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) inNorfolk, Va. I would like you to link your main site to our Web sitewww.jfcom.mil. Bloggers, newsgroups and all the elements of Web 2.0represent the future of mass communication and the best opportunity totell the military's story. Your site is an important link in this newchain of communication.USJFCOM is one of the nation's nine unified commands and is theDepartment of Defense's executive agent for military transformation.Transformation is the future of the military, and we are the fluxcapacitor that makes it possible.

(Edited for brevity)
Thank you for your time,Spc. Andrew Orillion, USJFCOM public affairs

Well, SPC Orillion, I'm happy to help out. I'm also happy to see that US Joint Forces Command is following in CENTCOM's footsteps and reaching out to military bloggers all over.

Saving money...wasting lives

2007-03-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

From today's Christian Science Monitor,

Christian Science Monitor
March 19, 2007

How To Fuel Up The Out-Of-Gas US Military Machine

A poor state of readiness is hurting the world's finest fighting force. Congress must act to correct it.

By Neil Abercrombie and Solomon Ortiz

WASHINGTON -- Earlier this month, the House Armed Services Committee got a classified briefing about US military readiness. Details were disturbing, but the implication was jaw-dropping: The US armed services are literally at the breaking point. This is not hyperbole or partisan rhetoric. It is stark reality – and it requires immediate attention.

That's why Congress must reassert its constitutional responsibility to provide for America's armed services. This begins with the Armed Services Committees, which have already begun hearings on the 2008 National Defense Authorization bill.

Read the complete article here

So let me get this straight…Mssrs Ortiz and Abercrombie say the military is dangerously under-funded and that the solution is for President Bush to stop requesting emergency funds and go through the “regular” budgeting process?

I particularly appreciate their remarks that the war has damaged retention…as evidenced by the Army missing the recruiting goal by 8%...in 2005. But they fail to mention that Feb 2007 marked the 21st consecutive month of the active duty component meeting its retention goals.

So what does their accusation say about our recruits that we can only make our retention goals by offering expensive bonuses…to people who know they’re going to war. I’m not sure that I buy the notion that people are really anxious to go to war because of the re-enlistment bonus.

Nor do I accept the argument that we’re suffering equipment damage and casualties in numbers not seen since Vietnam. Well, duh! When you don’t really get involved in such a large scale ground-war for a long time, that’s kind of what happens, isn’t it?

I found it ironic that not once in the author’s argument did they mention the validity of our being over there, just that we need to find an “exit strategy from Iraq” and “improve US effectiveness in the ‘real’ war on terrorists”. All of this as part of congress’ role in improving financial oversight of the army. And dangerously short on specifics, or even the impact of such ideas on the current situation in Iraq.

I guess the logic of “If we aren’t using it, it doesn’t cost as much” overrides any real discussion of whether or not we actually NEED to use it in the first place.

It'd be nice to see our leaders engaged in less rhetoric and a little more substantive debate...but then, that wouldn't be politics, would it?

Kosovodad

What's good about not having gays in the military

2007-03-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

Does God work in mysterious ways? I’ll never know, but perhaps that’s why the ways are mysterious.

I had just finished a rather long post on why GEN Pace got in trouble for stepping outside his lane and discussing his personal opinion on the immorality of homosexual acts, not –as some would have you believe—the immorality of homosexuals. Whether a man can be separated from his acts may be a discussion for another time; maybe he truly cannot.

I discussed why you should stay, “in your lane” during interviews, when it’s okay to go “off the record” despite what we learn at PAO school (you’re never “off the record”), and why this all changes the higher up the chain of command you move.

Anyway, I had all my links lined up, my thoughts down in electrons, and I hit preview to view my work. Then, somewhere between “preview” and purgatory everything disappeared…for good.

At that point I gave up. I said I’m not redoing that entire post.

At then I realized why after I read an email from my boss, where he talked about briefing the CG of Army Public Affairs today. One of the things I like about my boss is that he’s always upbeat. In his email he talked about briefing the crew back in DC yesterday about our live broadcast from Daegu the other day. He started the briefing with the words, “let me tell you what’s GOOD in Army Public Affairs”.

That’s when it hit me about the furor over GEN Pace’s remarks. That the discussion over whether a man’s nature can be separate from his acts isn’t a discussion for another time. It’s a discussion that we can afford to have now.

It’s a discussion we can afford because of who we are as a nation. It’s a discussion that we can afford because those that live here, straight, gay or otherwise, don’t have to live in fear that a pile of trash is going to explode in the mall, killing 17 people, 8 of whom are children.

It’s a discussion we can afford because we truly do live in a nation that serves as a beacon for others, an inspiration and a dream. We live in a nation where despite our problems, we can debate the nature of man and its fitness for military service.

We’re a nation where our leaders can waste time on problems like this because the nation isn’t under the immediate and real threat of destruction.

Of course, I’d rather they get back to debating how we’re going to take care of our people at Walter Reed at other places.

Anti-war types don't even like anti-war congressmen

2007-03-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

From "The Hill"
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) berated a woman who approached him in a Congressional corridor, claiming that “idiot liberals” don’t understand the war supplemental spending bill process.

The altercation was videotaped and posted on www.youtube.com .

“We’re trying to use the supplemental to end the war,” Obey said. “You can’t end the war if you’re going against the supplemental. It’s time these idiot liberals understood that.”

Read the story....See the video.

The funniest thing is reading how that Obey "screamed" at this woman and had to apologize for it afterwards. The video is approximately six minutes long and Obey tries to explain to this woman, and another man who jumps in later, that the Dems just "don't have the votes" to do what they want. In my opinion, he goes a lot farther than he should have in trying to explain to the woman, who wants better health care for her son but also an end to the war, that his bill does exactly that...the language provides more money for things like body armor and health care, but also makes it illegal to continue the war.

The woman then says, "Oh, I didn't know that was in the....that's in the supplemental"

That's when Obey has started to have enough. Here's a guy trying to do what he thinks is the right thing (even if I think he's wrong) and he's getting no end of grief from his own side, people who won't take the time to figure out what's really going on. Or people who decide that their lives revolve around a single issue and won't stop to decide what's truly better for everyone as a whole, or what's truly just for the greatest number.

Not that that liberals are the only ones that do that. But it's got to be even more frustrating for a guy like Obey...Not only to take an unpopular position, but to get jumped on by what few people share your opinion of the war?

The mess at Walter Reed

2007-03-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

There's a world of difference between LTG Kiley and MG Weightman it appears.

Well, unfortunately it's not surprising. Anyone who's in the Army right now and NOT in Iraq or Afghanistan knows exactly what the rest of the Army is going through. We're all being told, "not one more dollar for anything,". Hiring freezes, spending caps... anyone knows the situation that MG Weightman was in: "Do your increasingly complex mission with not one more dollar or person".

If I were in charge of WRAMC, and I had to choose between life-saving medical care and equipment for the returning soldiers, or better conditions for the Med-hold company, well, that's not really much of a choice, is it?

Now, just back away from the keyboard for a second :) I'm ABSOLUTELY agreeing the conditions were terrible, they weren't fair to those that sacrificed so much for our country, and they weren't what's expected of our Army. Yes, we should be embarrassed and ashamed that those Soldiers, and worse their families, had to endure a single day of that. That's all entirely true.

What I'm saying is that most likely scenario for Weightman is that he was given two losing choices; he just chose the least terrible of the two.

I'm waiting for some evidence of congressional irresponsibility to appear...perhaps the records of those that voted against spending increases for things like, well, medical hold facilities.
This is when we see that, for many, "supporting the troops" means something entirely different than what you and I think it means. You and I think it means making sure troops have what they need to do their job, and what they need to care for those that did their job. Apparently for some it means, "I'm going to disagree with the war but I don't want to make the rank and file angry".

Well, too late for that. They're already angry and they already realize they're not being supported. Now, everyone else is starting to realize it also.
--Mike

Your own motivational posters

2007-03-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php#

It's amazing what you can find on the Internet...

Are we still doing this?

2007-03-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is really an outdated practice that needs to stop. Let these boys do some community service and then join the military if that's what they want, but stop giving them this kind of "choice". As a commander and a Soldier, I don't want -- or need -- people who've been forced into the military. I've seen the effect that one personality can have on the cohesion and morale of the unit, and this isn't someone we need. Our Soldiers are professional and educated as never before and this kind of action is an insult to all they've accomplished.

If they want to join the Navy after they've learned some hard lessons about life, then let them. But that's a personal decision, and a decision best left for another time.

LTC Mike Lawhorn

Two Men Choose Navy As Sentence
By Associated Press

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Two 19-year-olds facing probation and community service or even jail time in the shooting of a steer considered a family pet took advantage of another option offered by the judge - joining the Navy.

Chris Jabco and Eric Smith, both from Bellefonte, had pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals and two summary violations in the shooting of the $3,500 Scottish Highland steer.

The two were drinking Sept. 17 and drove through Spring Township with another man in search of deer to poach, culminating in the shooting of the steer, authorities said. The pair reached a deal with prosecutors, who recommended two years' probation and at least five hours of community service.

But Centre County Court Judge Bradley P. Lunsford said the case warranted more than probation. He noted the pain caused to the animal's owner and said Jabco and Smith had been drinking and driving around looking for something to kill. Their actions, he said, "were premeditated, senseless, and your motivations were evil."

The judge said they could spend 48 hours in jail, two years on probation, and 100 hours caring for animals on a farm; avoid jail time but spend 200 hours on the farm and remain on probation for two years; or enlist in the military.

Defense attorney Jim Bryant said his clients planned to join the Navy.
"I think it was an appropriate and innovative resolution to a bad situation," Bryant said. "This was a case of young adult stupidity."

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Nathan Boob also said he was pleased.
"We believe the defendants will benefit from military service," he said.
Another judge had sentenced the third man, who pulled the trigger, to two years' probation.

Why it pays to be honest first...before somebody makes you.

2007-02-28T23:32:00.000-08:00

So much for the "grass roots" campaign of "normal military folks" who are against the war.

Greyhawk has the entire story here, and goes step by step through the background of the Navy Sailor, Jonathan Hutto, who is often portrayed in a classic, "David versus Goliath" sense in MSM publications, such as this Washington Post story.

But Seaman Hutto, has some mighty big backers as the Greyhawk piece reveals. It's definitely worth it, even on limited time.

Mike

Finally, even we have a You Tube account...

2007-02-28T22:43:00.000-08:00

Hooah!
I did what every good Army leader does when they want something done right...turned it over to an enthusiastic young NCO.

We now have a You Tube account. People can see what it is that we do and find out more about life in Korea.

Of course, all of this comes about five days before DoD makes us eliminate access from government computers, including computer labs, to myspace, photobucket, you tube, and others. Unfortunately, people have been using these sites to steal personal and classified information so we have to do something.

But people can still see our videos at home, and send the link to folks back in the States.

Feel free to check it out.

Mike Lawhorn

Mis-take

2007-02-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

Mistrial for Lt. Watada,

Well, Reuters has just reported that 1LT Ehren Watada's trial has ended in a mistrial. The new trial may start in March. No doubt this will give the anti-freedom for Iraq movement the impression that they're winning. I'll be interested to see how the Democratic hopefuls ignore how the military bends over backwards to protect the legal rights of its members and instead concentrate on how this just proves that the military is out "to get" Watada.

Because you know we are....I mean, we don't really take that whole, "you raised your hand and volunteered to go and fight for your country when and where we told you as long as the orders are lawful, which they have already proven to be in this case" thing seriously.

Or do we? Well, we'll see during the next trial.

Islamic Terrorists don't understand the "lame duck" concept apparently

2007-02-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm already tired of the MSM harping about how President Bush is a lame duck with no chance of getting anything done. I'm even more tired of the 2008 presidential race already in full swing.

An interesting side note: I thought it was ironic that Joe Biden had to apologize for "racially insensitive" remarks. Of course, with him being a democrat, it will all blow over because people will realize "that's not really him". I mean, who still remembers when CA Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante meant to say "negro" and actually said "nigger" in a public speech? That "controversy" lasted a few days and then, he too, got a pass from Jesse Jackson and everyone else. Biden's slip will be no different...let's face it, he's not a republican so his words never reflect the actual person.

Which is why we find it hard to believe democrats on anything. Fortunately for us, Islamic terrorists don't have any problem believing that President Bush means what he says when he talks about putting more troops on the ground to secure Baghdad.

And that's the real difference between Bush and Clinton...Clinton said whatever he thought people wanted him to believe....Bush says whatever he believes no matter what people think.

General: Shiite Militia Leaders Leaving Baghdad Strongholds
By Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Staff Writer

Shiite militia leaders already appear to be leaving their strongholds in Baghdad in anticipation of the U.S. and Iraqi plan to increase the troop presence in the Iraqi capital, according to the top U.S. commander in the country.

"We have seen numerous indications Shia militia leaders will leave, or already have left, Sadr City to avoid capture by Iraqi and coalition security forces," Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said in a written statement submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee as part of his confirmation hearing today to be Army chief of staff.

Casey, who has been the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq since summer 2004, also stated that as part of the campaign to improve security in Baghdad, he expects that U.S. troops will be stationed in Sadr City with Iraqi army and national police units. U.S. plans call for five combat brigades, or about 17,500 troops, to move into Baghdad over the next four months and help occupy about 35 outposts across the city.

edited for length

The lesser of two evils is still evil

2007-01-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

This is why I love Ralph Peters. "We'll get you" is definitely the right message to these people, no matter where they're hiding.

New York PostJanuary 10, 2007 Pg. 29
Terrorizing Terrorists
Our Special-Ops Forces Strike Again
By Ralph Peters

WE'LL get you. No matter how long it takes, we'll get you. That's the message our special-operations forces just sent to al Qaeda fugitives in Somalia - and everywhere else.
With AC-130 gunships pounding terrorist hide-outs and training sites in the badlands near the Kenyan border, we may have nailed senior al Qaeda figures involved in bombing our embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam. At the very least, we killed some really bad hombres.
As always, terrorist propagandists will claim that only innocent civilians suffered, and media sympathizers will echo their nonsense. Fortunately, though, most pro-terrorist journalists and "human-rights advocates" are preoccupied just now with the awful mistreatment of poor, misunderstood Saddam Hussein.
And the devastation left behind by our gunships is only part of a very big U.S. win:
* Thanks to resolute military action by Ethiopia's government (quietly backed by Washington), the terror regime in Mogadishu crumbled overnight - collapsing the lie that extremist Islam is on the march to an inevitable victory.
* The speed of the Ethiopian advance cornered hundreds of hardcore Islamist fighters in a forlorn backwater, where they can be killed out of sight of their media defenders. And be killed they will.
* Islamist outrages and subversion inspired unprecedented cooperation between moderate Somalis, Ethiopians, Kenyans and Americans.
For its part, the Kenyan government grew sick of Somalia exporting hatred, weapons and terror. Now Kenyan troops have sealed their border so al Qaeda's agents can't escape.
* Far from being a growing threat - as America-haters insist - al Qaeda's on the run. Confident that they had a new refuge in Somalia, international terrorists instead find themselves scrambling to escape justice.
* Our special-ops forces are getting their revenge: After Army Rangers and Delta Force troops won a hands-down victory in the streets of Mogadishu back in 1993, President Bill Clinton sold them out (as the Pelosi-Reid Democrats threaten to do to our soldiers in Iraq on a greater scale). Now they're killing al Qaeda fanatics and their local allies with the full support of a new Somali government.
Much remains unresolved in Somalia - it won't turn into a quiet garden spot any year soon. But no amount of rationalizations by anti-American voices can disguise the fact that this has been a huge defeat for radical Islam and its terrorist vanguard: They're homeless again.
Fanatical dreams of re-establishing - and extending - the Muslim caliphate on the African continent are suddenly in shambles (although our enemies, from al Qaeda to the Saudi royal family, won't give up just yet). Far from impressing the world with its strength, extremist Islam just revealed its inherent weakness again: Average Muslims don't like it and won't defend it.
Yes, there's plenty of anti-Ethiopian emotion in the streets of Mogadishu today - but that's not the same as pro-Islamist sentiment.
As for al Qaeda's media pals, they'll try to play down the scope of this defeat, lying that only a few foreign terrorists were in Somalia. But even apart from the number of fanatics now lying dead in mango swamps, snake-ridden forests and scrubland, the psychological blow to al Qaeda has been huge: Mired in Iraq and hunkered down in remote rat-holes in Pakistan, Terror International, Inc. has been robbed of its biggest success story since 9/11.
The Islamists lost their vital beach-head in the Horn of Africa. Even Sudan, for all its villainy, is wary of associating with al Qaeda today (Khartoum has enough problems).
Of course, not all in the region is exactly as it seems on the surface. The do-it-in-the-dark boys - our military special-operations forces and CIA personnel - have been deeply involved in getting this one right. Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, the American regional headquarters in Djibouti, has been a consistently effective player, too, punching well above its weight. JTF-HOA is an economy-of-force operation that returns a huge strategic dividend on the taxpayer's investment.
We owe all of our engaged military and intelligence personnel - overt, covert and clandestine - a debt of thanks.
But the thanks won't be public. As always, our special operators will fade back into the strategic mist. Some may have been on the ground in Somalia throughout this operation, helping out with intelligence and targeting, nudging key actions along and hunting specific terrorists. The use of AC-130 gunships - incredibly effective weapons - against massed terrorists may have been cued by cell-phone intercepts, but I wouldn't discount brave Americans on the ground directing those airstrikes.
That's speculation, of course. But I can guarantee two things to Post readers: First, Somalia and the world are better off with the Islamists on the run and living in terror themselves, and, second, our special operations forces - from all of the services - are greater heroes than the history books or Hollywood films will ever be able to capture.
Whack 'em again, guys.
Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer and the author of "Never Quit The Fight."

Another reason the New York Times has a hard time keeping in touch with reality

2007-01-01T20:16:00.000-08:00

John Burns of the NYT has written about Hussein's execution (story here). I just saw him on CNN International, where he said that "Americans are outraged" by what happened.

This is why journalists need to stick to reporting verifiable facts and stay away from the hyperbole that hurts their reputation.

Apparently there was some shouting at the actual execution, which seems in Mr. Burns' writing, to prove that the execution was "unruly" and had a "pell mell nature".

Okay, I don't know the first thing about Iraqi culture. But I'm willing to believe that -- given the numerous public demonstrations, chanting, shouting and what-have-you -- yelling at the execution is perfectly in keeping with Iraqi public behavior.

I'm certainly not outraged that there was some shouting at the execution. I'm actually amazed -- given the incredible barbarity of the Hussein regime -- that the Iraqi people didn't charge the stage and tear him apart with their bare hands.

Mr. Burns,
Stick with the facts...please stop trying to push "outrage" off on to the "American people", who are 1-not a measurable single entity and 2-much more likely to have a variety of opinions than you may want to believe and 3-probably couldn't care less about how the Iraqis actually behaved at the execution.

Hung by the neck until dead.

2006-12-30T06:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, but is it over? No, not by a long shot. What would be interesting is to see whether the US government was really against the execution and the Iraqis followed through anyway...if so, I say good for them and that fact might go a long way towards future stability. Otherwise, I expect some short-term increase in violence and then back to "normal". I personally hope this brings closure to those who need it.

This is NOT why I became a Soldier

2006-12-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

As a Soldier, I feel proud to provide freedom for my country and her citizens. It fulfills my sense of purpose that people can live out their lives and govern themselves without the threat of death from their government or from a foreign power.

But I'm always amazed at the extent to which some people will go given a little power. Nowhere is this more true than in that organization which will ultimately cause the downfall of all modern civiliazation -- the homeowner's association.

A Colorado couple has won their battle to keep a holiday wreath shaped like a peace sign on the front of their house. Lisa Jensen and Bill Trimarco recently received a letter from the board of their homeowners association threatening them with fines of $25 a day unless they removed the peace wreath. Read about it here and then read more on this story.

This is why I dislike HAs so much. In this particular story, a couple hung a Christmas wreath shaped like a peace symbol on their door. The HA board chairman complained, even though according to the HA rules, it was the architectural committee that had control over this area (and the committee didn't seem to mind). Well, the board chairman threatened to firethe board members if they didn't go along with taking action against the couple who put up the wreath.

One thing I did disagree with in the story was the following quote -- after the story received national-level attention -- from the former, not the current, board chairman, who said "The whole issue could have been avoided, he said, by one neighbor simply talking to another to come to an understanding of the wreath's true meaning."

No. This isn't what happens when HA boards get involved. What happens is that you get these control freaks who have the time to be involved in every little detail and have a burning desire to make other people dance to capricious and arbitrary decisions.

"One neighbor talking to another ..." I don't think so. I firmly believe that one neighbor said something, didn't like the answer they got from the wreath owner, and complained to the board. Then the board, rather than tell the complainant "get a life" simply decided the easier road was to tell the wreath owners to take it down. They just weren't expecting the owners to say "No" and fight back...That's where Blogs and the Media come in.

This is why I'm a Soldier. To defend people like the wreath owners...not to embolden jackassess like the Homeowner's Association Board Chairman. Even if the wreath WAS a complaint about the Iraq war, I'm okay with that...As Soldiers, we defend people's right to compain vociferously about ... well about anything, but particularly about their government.

This wreath wasn't about the Iraq War, however, it was about one couple's desire for peace...especially the peace that comes from being left alone by your neighbors.

Name dropping is such a vulgar thing...

2006-11-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

As I was telling the Sergeant Major of the Army yesterday when he stopped by.

One of the better perks of the job is that our service members get to meet lots of VIPs. We conducted a tv interview, three spots with the SMA and a live radio show, and of course, we're all proud of the job our folks did.

Check out the photos on:
http://afnk.shutterfly.com

Change in Congress: maybe not.

2006-11-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

Maybe I’m more Polly-annish about the Democrat’s control of the House and Senate than most, but here’s my call for the next few months.

Some radical democrats will take this win as an opportunity to claim that it’s time to bring all the troops home no matter the cost…and a few weeks later, cooler heads will prevail and you’ll start to see more and more Democrats saying something like, “yeah, we need to come quickly, but we can’t abandon those Iraqis to whom we made promises…even if it wasn’t right to make those promises in the first place.”

You know what’s weird? Few people remember than George Bush, while a presidential candidate in 2000, criticized Clinton for “nation building” in Bosnia and promised what? He promised to “bring the troops home” from Bosnia. Shortly after the election, cooler administration heads prevailed and troop cuts were limited and somewhat postponed...which was the right thing to do.

Today the right thing to do is to keep troops over there. Okay, maybe we should adapt our focus in different ways to keep up with the changing situation…as WE ALWAYS DO during any mission. This is where the media loses friends: when they want to keep pointing to any change of mission and shouting, “A-HA…FAILURE!” Holy cow, I always thought that’s one of the things I got paid to do: use my judgment to make changes as the situation progressed.

Maybe this is what happens…two years go by…the dems have made no real changes or proposals in our Iraq strategy…and this increases the chance of a republican being elected president?

The bottom line? Don’t hold your breath waiting for real troop cuts in Iraq despite all the rhetoric from the party that controls Congress.

Some people are never happy...

2006-10-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm thinking I should offer this guy a tour of AFN because he's been here twenty years and still doesn't have an idea about who we are or what we do.

For those of you who haven't been following the issue: American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) and the NFL have a contract that says we can have NFL games for free but we can't show them on any channel that goes out over the open air waves. This has resulted in a lot of questions for us...

Here's what I posted at www.usfkforums.com

Most AFN questions boil down to two issues: how do I get more channels off-post, and why can't I see "X" when it's clearly obvious that everyone else wants "X" just as much as I do?

Hey, if it were up to me, we'd have "Battlestar Galactica" on all the time :)

Okay, there are two basic reasons you're not going to see much NFL football on AFN Prime Pacific, and by "not much" I mean "none except for the Superbowl". You ARE going to see college football on AFN Prime, but not NFLFirst, AFN Prime Pacific is our channel for variety programming. That basically means it’s “everything for everybody”.

It’s also where we put our most popular programs, and it draws the widest audience. Second, as you may know, cable signal pirating is an issue here in Korea. We’re actually preparing another round of briefings up here on just this issue and whether or not something can be done about it.

AFN Prime is our one channel (and we can only physically do this with one channel) that goes out over the open air waves where someone with an antenna can grab it. Like maybe a cable company that then puts that signal into their own cable package ??? Just hypothetically speaking of course.

Guess what happens to us when the NFL finds out that we’re putting this signal out where just anyone can grab it and put it into their cable package? Yeah, you get the picture…That’s another reason the NFL stuff stays on AFN Sports, AFN Extra, or AFN Atlantic.

Great if you’re on the Cable system or have your dish/decoder (and your landlord actually lets you put it up), but not if you’re on the Korean cable system or just off base with an antenna.

Then I gave an interview to Stars and Stripes, which you can see here.

I made it relatively clear or so I thought...

Lawhorn, in a phone interview later Tuesday, explained that the problem boils down to broadcast rights and referred to a statement from American Forces Radio and Television Service headquarters in Riverside, Calif.

“Scheduling sports on AFN Prime Pacific continues to be problematic because many events are restricted from over-the-air broadcast in Korea by the distributors,” according to the statement. “In addition, there are currently more than 50 local Korean cable companies that are illegally pirating our programming from the over-the-air broadcasts of AFN Prime. Adding more sports to that channel jeopardizes our already delicate broadcast rights negotiations.”

Lawhorn explained that AFRTS sends the Prime Pacific signal to South Korea, where his staff inserts local command information — such as Korea-specific commercials and news programming — before rebroadcasting it as Prime Pacific-Korea. That signal is broadcast openly over the air, so servicemembers can monitor the channel for emergency information without having to use a satellite dish.

I mean, I think it's pretty obvious that AFRTS is behind the decision -- along with the NFL. I also think it's pretty clear that we just put in the command information...we (AFN-Korea) don't make policy regarding the NFL games.

The online community is really supportive and even offered some other reasons...

I know us in the expat teaching community really apperciates Col Lawhorns openess in telling us whats going on. I never knew the cable companies here pirate the signal, I always thought it was negoitated in the SOFA or something like that so the Korean companies could carry the signal.

Given all the AFN classes that offered by the hogwons there ought to be a way cable companies pay you folks for the signal, they are making enough money off of itRegarding the NFL 2 things are going on IMHO. For years the Koreans and the NFL could care less about things here, Then Hines Ward wins the Super Bowl MVP and Korea goes nuts. The NFL sees a potential market. Notice all the Steeler games being shown? As soon as something happens to him the interest will go away

So then I get some nasty letter to the Editor that basically calls me a liar and accuses me of scamming the public...why, I don't know...it's not like we're getting anything out of this.

Check this out: nasty letter to the editor.

That's da bomb!

2006-10-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, well..sounds like it'll be a busy week for us. Not for nothing, but rest assured that we're all okay over here.

N. Korea claims success in nuclear test

SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea announced Monday that it successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.In a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the communist regime said the test earlier Monday was carried out safely and successfully."The nuclear test was conducted by 100 percent of our wisdom and technology," it said.There was no danger including leaks of radioactivity, it added.South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said the country's state intelligence agency detected a 3.58 magnitude seismic tremor in the North's remote area of North Hamgyeong Province at around 10 a.m."The intelligence was immediately reported to President Roh Moo-hyun," Roh's spokesman Yoon Tae-young said. "Related countries are in consulation on the issue."Roh immediately called an emergency meeting of related ministers to discuss countermeasures.lcd@yna.co.kr

Upcoming NYC Job Fair

2006-10-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you in or near NY on Nov 6. I don't normally do the "press release" thing, but hey, I'm all about helping people make the transition.

I've never been upset when Soldiers leave the military -- but only if they have a plan and are looking to improve themselves, their lives, or their family situation. The only ones that irk the crap out of me are those kids who say they're getting out and going back home to, "see what they wanna do..."

Here it is:

THE NEW YORK TIMES SALUTE OUR HEROES VETERANS JOB FAIR & CAREER EXPO™

From their press release, "This is a job fair for veterans and their wives, and while it takes place in New York City , there are a number of companies, who have jobs all across the US ."

THE NEW YORK TIMES SALUTE OUR HEROES VETERANS JOB FAIR & CAREER EXPO™
NEW YORK • Monday, Nov. 6 • Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Presented by The New York Times Job Market in partnership with leading veterans organizations and government agencies, Salute Our Heroes™ will provide former servicemen and women and spouses of active-duty military personnel with unprecedented job opportunities and informative career seminars.

A broad range of companies will turn out on November 6 to present veterans with a host of viable job opportunities and valuble career resources including: AdeccoAmerican LegionBank of America, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Clearwater Police Department, Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, Department of Veteran Affairs, EDO Corporation, ESGR, FDNY, Foley Inc, HSBC, Kaplan University, Kawasaki Rail Car, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Merck, Merrill Lynch, Mt Sinai, NASA - National Aeronautics andSpace Administration, New York Times, Norweign Cruise Line, NYC DOE, Oracle, Schneider Naitonal Carriers, Time Warner Cable, University of Phoenix Online, US Office of Personnel Management, USOVETS

Pre-register today at:http://www.nytimes.com/saluteourheroes

Talk Like a Pirate Day...and PICTURES

2006-10-02T00:28:00.000-07:00

Here there be Pirates!

Okay, okay...first things first.

Link to change of command photos !! Our unit Command Sergeant Major (in the back right of the picture) puts dang near everything we do on Shutterfly which is FANTASTIC.

The Stars and Stripes has a story on our recent return to live broadcasting...

The picture from above is just one of the many from our recent "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" celebration. We had a competition amongst sections to see who was the most spirited and supportive of this very important international holiday. Seriously, it's a real holiday...

Well, one of our remote detachments -- the gang at Kunsan Air Base -- won and we presented them with their very own home-made AFN Plank!!

We gave all the participants their own Certificate of Pirateship which looked like this:

Then we signed it in either blood red or black with little skulls....

The CSM and I were laughing in the office about how we had important things to do like well, signing Certificates of Pirateship. Then we realized that this actually IS one of the more important things that we'll do as a command team. These are the kinds of things that make it fun to be in our unit and make the long days and short-notice projects bearable. Whether it's having a the quarterly barbecues, soccer matches between headquarters and the detachments, or "Talk Like a Pirate Day", these things determine the command climate and ultimately determine how much people are willing to put into the unit and the mission.

I'm pretty damned proud to be an AFN Pirate...even if only for a day.

AFN-Korea.... doing it LIVE!!

2006-08-24T00:24:00.000-07:00

Oh wow! Has the last few weeks been a blur. Change of command, getting housing, meeting all the great people who serve here, meeting old friends, Unit PT....it's awesome!

But tonight is a special treat. As you know, we here at AFNK (American Forces Network - Korea) normally do a nightly broadcast, but that broadcast is normally taped.

Tonight, for the first time in more than five years, we're doing it live! I'm watching the folks practice right now. I have a box on my desk that allows me to watch the various channels, listen to all the different detachments' radio programs, etc.

The sergeant major and I have arranged for pizza/drinks after the event tonight to celebrate. I sent out an "all hands" email today to tell everyone how proud I am of them..whether they are the budget folks or the broadcasters, they all had a part in making this great comeback for our network.

The reason we're going live is because that's what we're supposed to be doing in wartime: live TV and radio broadcasting. We've gotten away from the TV part of it because, well...because of a lot of reasons, but those don't matter now.

I couldn't be more proud of these guys.

I owe you all some pictures...

Mike

More blurring between mainstream and blogstream

2006-07-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

From today's WSJ: More on the success of milbloggers

Wall Street JournalJuly 26, 2006 Pg. B1

Cry Bias, And Let Slip The Blogs Of War
By Mike Spector

J.P. Borda started a Web log during his 2004 National Guard deployment in Afghanistan to keep in touch with his family. But when he got home, he decided it was the mainstream media that was out of touch with the war.
"You hear so much about what's going wrong," he says. "It gets hard to hear after a while when there's so much good going on."
Mr. Borda, a specialist, read other soldiers' blogs and found he wasn't alone. Hundreds of other troops and veterans were blogging world-wide, and many focused on a common enemy: journalists.
The 31-year-old software analyst, who now lives in Dallas, wanted to make it easier for people to read soldiers' accounts. So he started a Web site, Milblogging.com, to organize as many blogs as possible by country, military branch and subject matter. Today, the site links to more than 1,400 military blogs world-wide and was recently purchased for an undisclosed amount by Military.com, a Web site catering to soldiers that is owned by Monster Worldwide Inc.
Now, Mr. Borda finds himself at the center of a growing blogging movement. Military bloggers, or "milbloggers" as they call themselves, contend that they are uniquely qualified to comment on events in armed conflicts. Many milbloggers also argue that the mainstream media tends to overplay negative stories and play down positive military developments. For many of these blogs, says Mr. Borda, "the sole purpose is to counteract the media."
There have always been at least some soldiers who have wanted to go to battle against Big Media. Some in the military blamed coverage of the Vietnam War for turning American public opinion against it. What's changed? The Internet now allows frustrated soldiers and veterans to voice their opinions and be heard instantly and globally.
The backlash takes many forms. Some bloggers point out what they see as inaccuracies and post lengthy critiques of current reporting. Others post their own stories. Some simply sling arrows.
Matthew Burden, an Army veteran, started his blog, "Blackfive," in December 2003 after he learned that an Army buddy, Maj. Mathew Schram, had been killed in an ambush near the Iraq-Syria border. Mr. Burden, 39, felt his friend received short shrift in media coverage and decided to blog about military stories he felt weren't getting the attention they deserved.
"Does Abu Ghraib need to be told 40 times above the fold in the New York Times when half your readers couldn't name the guy who won the Medal of Honor?" Mr. Burden says.
Michael Yon, a 42-year-old Army Special Forces veteran, is perhaps the most attention-grabbing blogger, with appearances on MSNBC and CNN. In December 2004, he embedded himself with troops in Iraq and posted dispatches online for the next several months.
Most of Mr. Yon's writings related heroic acts by American troops and Iraqis. Mr. Yon also praises some media coverage of Iraq. But in an interview, he says many reporters "haven't stayed long enough to see what's going on. Most of the reporting is not deep enough." According to Mr. Yon, Iraqis are determined to fight insurgents and embrace a new government, a storyline he says he doesn't see in mainstream news coverage.
Not all milblogs wave the flag. Some have drawn attention for posts that irk the chain of command. Jason Hartley, a National Guardsman from New Paltz, N.Y., caught flak for posting comments on his blog, "justanothersoldier.com" that he said were satirical. Mr. Hartley, who served in Iraq, wrote that he loved dead civilians and wished he could shoot children. He claimed the comments were meant to highlight what he sees as the military's nonchalant attitude toward civilian casualties, but his superiors weren't amused. Mr. Hartley was eventually demoted to specialist from sergeant, and his commander, Capt. Vincent Heintz, wrote in a sworn statement that the blog "disparaged the Army in a manner unbecoming of an NCO (non-commissioned officer)."
Mr. Hartley says the military displayed "a neo-conservative, knee-jerk reaction" to his blog. "I'm a bleeding heart liberal in the guise of a soldier, and sometimes it comes out in my writing," he says.
Other milblogs are critical of the Bush Administration. An Army blogger in Iraq who calls himself "Godlesskinser," has a clock on his Web site noting how many days, hours, minutes and seconds have passed since President Bush vowed to capture Osama bin Laden.
The Pentagon, taking notice of the impact of such writings, has a committee studying military blogs over the next several months. In the field, the Army has issued formal guidance about blogging, reminding soldiers not to post information that might tip off the enemy. And U.S. Central Command officials in Florida have started contacting bloggers -- military and civilian -- when they come across posts that contain what they view as inaccurate or incomplete information. But overall, military blogs remain independent, with little organized oversight.
Military blogs receive a fraction of the hits generated by mainstream news Web sites. Mr. Burden's site, for example, receives about 210,000 unique visitors per month, he says. In comparison, Nielsen/Netratings data shows MSNBC.com got 24 million unique visitors last month.
But milbloggers, who only began online postings in earnest within the past three years, have become increasingly energized and organized in their efforts to counteract existing media coverage. In April, bloggers convened in Washington, D.C. for the first ever milblogging convention.
The frustration of milbloggers is understandable, says Alex S. Jones, a former New York Times reporter who heads the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. But he adds, "If the overall picture is one of continued violence and a significant lack of stability in many parts of Iraq, the individual shards of good news could be more of a distortion than a reflection of the truth."
When Milblogging.com launched in October, Mr. Borda stayed up until 5 a.m. on some nights maintaining the site. He says he sleeps more now, but his wife still has to tear him away sometimes for family events with their two sons, ages 5 and three months. "It's different," Angelica Borda, 26, says of her husband's passion, but "I'm used to it now."
Mr. Borda receives an undisclosed monthly stipend to maintain the blog (he signed a nondisclosure agreement with Military.com). He's currently working with Military.com to attract advertisers. The site's most notable paid advertisement so far is from a group called the Iraqi Truth Project, which has made a documentary that it says "exposes the atrocities committed by the former Iraq dictator."
In the mornings and evenings, Mr. Borda scours the Net for new blogs to add to his site and responds to emails from bloggers, fans and critics. He also interviews milbloggers and posts the transcripts in a feature called "Milblogger of the Week." Mr. Borda had collected just 50 blogs when he started Milblogging.com. Today, that number has increased nearly 30-fold, and Mr. Borda believes there are thousands more blogs out there.
Mr. Borda says he isn't able to fact-check the bloggers he publishes, or to verify their identities beyond using common sense. "I do a sanity-check of the milblog, making sure it deals primarily with a military subject matter, and I also rely on readers to let me know," he says. "That said, no matter how much research you do it's unlikely you could ever verify without a shadow of a doubt that any blogger is 100% legit."
What's the future of military blogs? Mr. Borda would like to see milbloggers get their own TV shows or have their entries printed in major newspapers. The goal, he says, is to "continually be blurring that line between the media and blogging."

I'm not dead yet!

2006-07-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Quick update: we're back in the land of the Morning Calm. Change of command went great, we're getting housing fairly quickly. The family's happy. I'll post some picutres as soon as I can...off to in-process finance, yay!

Mike

Fair and Balanced?

2006-07-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Today the Baltimore Sun had this editorial concerning Media coverage of our men and women in uniform. Opinions aside, it has some interesting statistics in it as well. Of course, with Thomas Sowell, the opinions aren't bad either.

Mike

Baltimore Sun
July 13, 2006

Media Mistreat American Troops

By Thomas Sowell

The same newspapers and television news programs that are constantly reminding us that some people under indictment "are innocent until proved guilty" are nevertheless hyping the story of American troops accused of rape in Iraq, day in and day out, even though these troops have yet to be proved guilty of anything.

What about all the civilian rapes that are charged - and even proved - in the United States? None of them gets this 24/7 coverage in the mainstream media.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example of media hype of unproven charges against U.S. troops.

While military action was still raging in the early days of the Iraq war, there was media condemnation of our troops for not adequately protecting an Iraqi museum from which various items were missing. When the smoke of battle cleared, it turned out that museum staff had hidden these items for safekeeping during the fighting.

Then there was the incident in which a Marine shot a terrorist who was pretending to be asleep, and the media turned that into a big scandal until an investigation revealed how this trick and others used by terrorists had cost the lives of American troops in Iraq.

None of the beheadings of innocent hostages taken by terrorists in Iraq - and videotaped for distribution throughout the Middle East - has aroused half the outrage in the mainstream media as have unsubstantiated charges made by terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo.

Nor have most of the media become any more skeptical about charges made by these cutthroats in Guantanamo after the claim that copies of the Quran had been flushed down the toilet at that prison turned out to be a lie. The idea of trying to flush any book down a toilet ought to have raised suspicions, but much of the media treat statements by terrorists and their supporters as true and any denials of wrongdoing by U.S. troops as false and a "cover-up."

These are the same liberal media people who claim to be "honoring our troops" when they hype every casualty and make a big production of each landmark death, such as the 1,000th American killed in Iraq, and then the 2,000th.

The multiple-page spread in The New York Times and similarly elaborate coverage of these landmark deaths on liberal television programs show that they had been preparing for these particular deaths for some time. They may well be disappointed if we don't reach the 3,000th American death, since the terrorists have shifted their attacks and now target primarily Iraqi civilians.

We all need to understand the fraudulence of the claim that these media liberals who have been against the military for decades and who have missed no opportunity to smear the military in Iraq are now in the forefront of "honoring" our troops by rubbing our noses in their deaths, day in and day out.

Troops who have won medals for bravery in battle - including one private who won a Medal of Honor at the cost of his life - go unmentioned in most of the mainstream media that are focused on our troops as casualties that they can exploit.

A recent study by the Media Research Center found that the three big broadcast news networks, CBS, ABC and NBC, ran 99 stories, adding up to 3 1/2 hours, about the investigation of charges against Marines in the deaths of Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November.

These remain unproven charges in a country where people on the side of the terrorists include civilian women and children who set off bombs to kill American troops and who lie to discredit those they do not kill.

But the same networks that lavished 3 1/2 hours of coverage on these unproven charges gave less than one hour of coverage to all the American troops who have won medals for bravery under fire.

Every newspaper and every television commentator has a right to criticize any aspect of the war in Iraq or anywhere else. But when they claim to be reporting the news, that does not mean filtering out whatever goes against their editorial views and hyping unsubstantiated claims that discredit the troops.

Those troops deserve the presumption of innocence at least as much as anyone else.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His syndicated column appears Thursdays in the Sun.

Moving across country

2006-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here's some pictures of us getting started out of Fort Hamilton. Nothing like a PCS move to show you who your friends really are. First, my younger daughter had to say goodbye to her FIAO league teammates (Federation of Italian American Orgs). A few of them got together for a saturday practice (the threat of rain kept most away) and they gave her a special plaque because she was the only kid who wouldn't be returning next year. It's funny how we take all this moving around for granted. Apparently there are people in the world who live in the same exact place for several years at a time...strange but true.

Then it was time to get the quarters cleaned. The good news this time was that they are renovating our quarters so we didn't actually have to clean anything beyond the appliances. NOTE: Char-Broil brand grill cleaner works like nothing else I've ever tried, clorox, simple green, anything. It even works on enameled appliances. So that was one of the best clearings we ever had from quarters.

Then it was time to pack the truck...Our German Shepherd had spend a night in the empty quarters by herself, convinced that we were abandoning her (and us learning an important lesson for next move). So she staked out her territory early once she saw the truck and the suitcases.

Finally we got our gypsy caravan ready to move.

Everybody was pretty good during the trip...even me. We managed to avoid the rain and still make it the 14 hours back to Indiana...Man, I don't like those long drives. We even managed to miss most of the rain. Except here, when we stopped at Breezewood, PA. This has got to be one of the biggest truck/rest stops EVER. My wife and I realized that we've been coming through Breezewood for 12 years now...and we ALWAYS get ice creams at this McD's....

That's one of the things I love about the military...tradition.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Mike

The real Korean threat

2006-07-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, things are heating up in Korea. The response from the locals to a commander who's apparently trying to make a difference has gotten personal. About 300 merchants held a gathering to demand the Area III commander's resignation. Stripes covers it here. The Area III Commander met with local officials to map out the way ahead. Area III also amended their Web site to reflect the correct curfew hours (showing that people are checking out what we put on the web).

Hat tips to USFK forums, GI in Korea, and Lost Nomad for all this. GI thinks we're headed down the wrong road. Lost Nomad has some pics and a lot of comments on his entry.

Here's what I've cross-posted on their comments.

Personally, my hat's off to the folks in Area III for trying to make a difference and not just throwing their hands up in the air and saying, "Oh well, that's Korea for you."

Okay, all the "truth in advertising" information up front:
I'm an Army Lt. Col. who's getting ready to come back to Korea this month. I just left LAST summer after a year with 2ID as the Public Affairs Officer. I've got 20 years in including a few years as an enlisted guy...I'm what some people used to call a "mustang" (enlisted, then commissioned). I've never been to Humphreys, but I can't imagine it's too different than Casey. I've been to Yongsan several times (my family lived there while I was at Red Cloud), and I will live there this time.

I agree with some of the stuff so far and disagree with some of the other.

Everything that follows is completely my own opinion.

Agree: "biggest supporters....NOT" Only as long as we have money and are spending it in their bars. Korean business people are like business people around the world: they support themselves first and foremost. If our interests coincide, great ... if not, we're gonna' march because the Man is keeping us down.

Agree: Not much is going to change until local governments take actions that have a permanent and lasting effect on these businesses. Yes, we can put places permanently off limits, but it's very hard to keep the same business from opening in the same spot under a different name, with the cousin's name on the ownership papers. Put the building off limits you say? Then we have the exact opposite problem when a new and legitimate owner comes in.

The best idea I have heard here: Putting breathalyzers at the gate upon return. If you're not 21, you take the test. Of course, the MPs aren't going to be happy about the personnel requirements... maybe random checks are the answer. Who knows? But if we decide the problem is that underage servicemembers are drinking, our actions should be directed right at the servicemembers themselves.

Disagree: "this can't be about underage drinking". Yes, it can...and hopefully it has a chilling effect on drinking as a whole. Why? Drinking is the main contributor in the vast majority of sexual assaults no matter whether men or women are the victim.

"Why can Joe defend his country at 18 but can't have a nice quite drink at 20?" Because Joe doesn't have a nice, quiet drink, that's why. Joe gets shitfaced and has his way with Susan, who's 19 and shitfaced as well. Then Susan wakes up and realizes that Joe promised to watch her back and make sure she got home, and then turned into a complete jackass.

Yeah, the fact is that we'd love to treat everyone over the age of 17 like a real adult. Unfortunately, they don't act like it. Yes, it's a few that ruin it for the many, but if I'm in charge of Soldiers, I'm not going out of my way to risk a rape or sexual assault just because "it's only a few soldiers out of a hundred".

Try explaining that to Susan's mom. "Well, ma'am, I could have tried to do something about it. Yes ma'am, I understand that I'm a leader, but you have to understand that your daughter's technically an adult. She just made bad choices is all."

Still, maybe the breathalyzer at the gate's the way to go.

Disagree: We have no right to tell Korean businesses what to do. Sorry, this argument is a complete red herring to draw off attention from the real issue. This isn't about businesses, this is about KSTA membership. Remember, KSTA membership is voluntary ... and includes TAX BENEFITS. The downside is that you agree to do certain things you normally wouldn't. KSTA membership is why you don't see Koreans in those same bars. Any bar at any time can decide that they don't want to be a member of KSTA and they don't have to abide by the rules. I wonder why they don't do that...hmmmm??

(Note: this is why it's absolutely critical for commands AND locals to work together to sort this kind of stuff out.)

This is also why many other hotels, bars, etc. aren't "off limits". They aren't KSTA members to begin with. So yes, GIs can go there and drink instead. So why don't they?

1- generally farther than Itaewon (or name your ville).
2- generally nicer places that won't tolerate as much crap.
3- no military police to pull your ass out of the fire when they decide they've had enough of your crap.
4- fewer people that speak English maybe? I don't know about this one.

Anyway, that's probably enough for now. Attack the ideas and I'm happy to respond. Attack the person and don't be surprised when you're ignored. I'd be happy to hear any other great ideas about actually solving the problem.

We'll see what happens.

Vernon Robinson for Congress in North Carolina

2006-06-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

http://vernonrobinson.com/index.shtml

Oh man, this was funny, funny stuff.

Nice Moves ... Unless you're Charles Woods and Sons

2006-06-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

Well, three moving days down and one to go. I finished scrubbing the stove so that it's so clean you could eat...well, you know.

Our neighbors are gone but left us their place, so we have somewhere to eat, hang out, and of course, blog. It's definitely the people who make this job what it is. Yeah, we're leaving town ... here's the keys to our place ... lock up when you're done.

We also said goodbye to Chuck/Laurel, two of our very good friends. They're on their way to Hawaii. Chuck's always been a guy willing to take one for the team. He takes command the same day I do, only of some sort of engineering directorate down there. One officer and a hundred civilians....yow!

Fortunately this time we have two very good moving companies. We have two because more than half our stuff is going into long-term storage, whilst the rest heads to Yongsan. We've been very happy with both crews, unlike when we came here. The guys have worked hard and been great.

The transportation officer (a civilian) stopped by again today to see how it was going. We talked about one of the moving companies, Charles Woods and Sons, who moved us here. He was telling us that they've been trying to get this company off the approved list of movers, but too many people who lodge complaints fail to follow through with official letters. This keeps the transportation office from being able to go to the contracting office and saying, "what the hell, over?" Apparently, whenever there's a complaint, someone gets a check from the company and magically, there's never any letter. The contracting office won't stop dealing with these people because they're the lowest bidder.

Guess who just got the "exclusive" contract to move all the folks on post to the new housing just being built? Yeah, you guessed it.

Personally, I told the transportation office I didn't want these guys moving me. I wasn't here when we moved in, but my wife was explaining that when they showed up at the door she said, "Hey, how are you?" to which they replied, "well, that depends, we haven't had any good tippers yet today, but maybe things will get better."

Then they spent the day mostly gawking at my 11-year old daughter. She decided later to let our German Shepherd "accidentally" get in the house to give these guys a scare.

Anyway, one more day of moving tomorrow and my final house clearing inspection. Thank god they're tearing out the insides of these houses...no cleaning crews required...hoody hoo!!

Why does bad customer service have to be the customer's fault?

2006-06-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

AARRGGHH!

We're in full "crunch time" for the move now. I just got back from school (Broadcast Management Course) and the movers hit tomorrow. The advance team from the moving company just left after completing the pre-move survey. Their estimate: 7k for household goods. We'll see how close they are.

So I'm at the Post Exchange yesterday (think post department store), and I'm paying by credit card. Of course, after I swipe the card and hit "okay" the screen goes blank and says "swipe card".

Now I'm about to do exactly that...the entire situation is about to last 3 seconds and be over in a flash. That is, until the smart-aleck clerk decides she just can't let it go. Her exact words?

"You did something wrong, do it again."

Now here's where I wish I had been fast enough to quip, "Well, if I did something wrong, how is doing it again going to help?"

What ensued after that really isn't important. What struck me was how it's automatically the customer's fault. As though those little credit machines that get used thousands of times in a week don't have their quirky moments.

I've been noticing a lot of this lately; maybe just because I'm more tense because of the move. It's our 10th move in roughly 16 years; my 11-year old daughter is making her seventh move. God bless her and her 9-year old sister (her sixth move).

I just returned from school and am trying to settle my travel voucher. I couldn't get a receipt when I checked out of the hotel because the computers were down. What we did before computers, I have no idea.

I called today and can't get a receipt because the rooms are all full? Apparently the computer won't let them generate a receipt until a room shows as "open" in the computer. Then they have to put me in, pull me out, and generate a receipt.

I was SO tempted to just say, "So you can't charge me until I give you my credit card number AGAIN because your computer was down? Okay, see you!"

I'm just ramblin...the movers are almost here, and I have to pack my suitcases. Hey, it beats being shot at, that's for sure. The guys and gals who are deployed are the ones we should keep in our prayers.

Mike

Don't do me any favors...

2006-06-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it's moving time again. I just got back from the schoolhouse at Fort Meade. Just a quick thought and will post more later today.

When you're already 2 hours late for something, do you really think you're doing someone a favor by calling them to tell them you're late?

Our movers want to come by for a pre-inspection today. They already missed their pre-inspection day on Saturday by not calling until they were already 90 minutes late. By then I had already left the house to take the kids to see "Cars" (which is really funny by the way).

We rescheduled for today at "noon". Well, it's 2:10 and I just got the call that they are going to be another hour. You know, you'd think that you would make that call either 1- 15 minutes before you're going to be late, or 2- 15 minutes after your time and say it's going to be another few hours.

Gotta run...gotta grab something to eat before they "actually" get here.

Freedom of the Press...it's gonna cost you.

2006-06-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

Another blow for freedom of the Press? That’s right, if you’ve got the money.

Remember when the Pentagon took heat for paying certain reporters to cover stories in Iraq?

The funniest comment is “But we don't do it here--not without getting punished, and fired, for it anyway.”

Well, apparently we DO do it here – without getting punished or fired.

This link will take you to this story.

In the latest blow to editorial credibility and the crumbling of the wall between church and state, nearly half of senior marketing executives (48.9%) said they have paid for an editorial or broadcast news placement, according to a PRWeek/Manning Selvage & Lee survey conducted by Millward Brown, BtoB Online reports.

See another, more in depth take here.

A Manning, Selvage and Lee report claims that almost 50% of marketing executives PAY for story placement…including, get this EDITORIAL placement. This is fantastic! Companies are paying for placement on the editorial page, where the connection between truth and reporting is often the weakest.

This is as opposed to paying reporters to cover your “good news” stories. At least there, you have facts that are verifiable. For instance, if we were to pay a reporter to cover a story about building three new schools, someone else could verify that there were…actually….three new schools that we had built.

With the MSL survey, companies are often (but not always) getting editorial placement. This means that they are getting stories that say, “This company is full of people who really have their customers’ best interest at heart.” This is somewhat harder to prove, isn’t it?

My guess is that these placements are in some of the same media outlets that were “outrage” when the U.S. government paid reporters to get off their lazy asses and cover some good news in Iraq.

Oh, wicked Harlot, oh shameful wench, thy name is Media.

Catching up and moving on.

2006-06-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Whew! It has been a while and it's time to catch up.

First of all, I'm late to the party on the fund raising for Project Valour IT. This is the project that provides voice activated software and laptops to wounded service members. The fund raising drive ends today, but I'm sure they'll always take a donation. Check out the link below:

Well, I left Fox News a few weeks ago and moved to the Defense Information School to start the Broadcast Management Course. Only a few days to go, one briefing left, and it's back to Brooklyn to round up the family and head out to Indiana. Maybe the Army will actually give me official orders at some point to allow my family to actually travel! You would think that this isn't rocket science, but apparently it is. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great individual people who are working hard to make this happen, but the system...ah, the system.

I'm not complaining...especially after reading this heart-wrenching story about a young Marine. This is why I'm in the military and love soldiers. Thanks to BlackFive for these...

On the other hand, I saw 1st lt. Ehren Watada on Dayside today, talking about why he is refusing to deploy to Iraq. Someone not happy with Fox is here .

Fort Meade has been great. I've gotten to see three soldiers with whom I was in Kosovo in 98. One former Specialist (the rank of E4) who was on our Public Affairs Detachment is now a Staff Sergeant and an instructor here at DINFOS. He has also been selected for Sergeant First Class (E7). Another, who was a Private First Class (E3) with whom I spent a week living in a Russian Motorized Infantry Battalion teaching public affairs, is now a strapping young Drill Instructor and a Staff Sergeant. And a former Sergeant is now a DA civilian instructor teaching at DINFOS as well. All great people with whom I am proud to have served.

I love this job!

Ding, Dong, Zarqawi's dead...

2006-06-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

h/t to Trevor at Milblogs...

see the MNF-I press release here...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air strike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday, adding his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and a first-hand look at his face. It was a major victory in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the broader war on terror.

Read the rest of the story here.

This is an absolutely great day for freedom and for the world.

Pimp my airwaves?

2006-06-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

But first, short remarks about the LT who has refused to go to Iraq. h/t to blackfive and heidi.

For me, anyone coming in the service after 9-11 should understand one thing: you will very likely go to Iraq. You may not go now or next year, but you have a very good chance to go. Understand that before you raise your hand, take the oath and take a paycheck.

Make your decisions now about whether or not you think it's a lawful order to go. Yes, you have an obligation to disobey an unlawful order, but it's not like you don't see this coming.

I’m sorry it takes someone this long to make this kind of decision. Make the decisions you can live with, but understand the consequences. Refuse to go and pay the price.

No whining…pick up a jumpsuit and stand inside the bars.

Now for some news about American Forces Radio:

Stars and Stripes has published a story concerning a recent study by Lund Media Research. The study recommends changes to various radio services and formats that American Forces Network provides. It’s the first major study in more than ten years.

And the bottom line is that no one has made any decisions about anything yet…

You’re going to hear, read and see lots of accusations in the near future. People want to fill in facts where there aren’t any and speculate over “what it all means”. Some folks see this as an attempt to get rid of certain programs such as Rush Limbaugh (whom I happen to like).

Others, such as John Gibson over at Fox, think that AFN radio is going to become Hip Hop Nation, serving up a “steady diet” of nothing but Hip Hop…

No we’re not.

We’re not going to serve up a steady diet of any one food. We understand that we have lots of audiences to serve. Right now we’re just happy to have some better information about our audiences and what they’re interested in.

You’ve all seen this before. An organization—any organization—wants to change things, so they bring in some experts in a particular field. They do some surveys and get a list of recommendations. Then the real work begins when we sit down and start to look at the details. That's where we're at now. Do you think we—or anyone else—is going to start making any changes before we figure out what it will cost and how it will affect us in the long run? We have to answer a lot questions. Will this affect our core values as an organization? Will we be able to sustain it? Will it make things better or worse? Will we have to stop doing something else to make this happen?

Organizations look at all options and consider each one carefully before acting, especially when they’re trying to make things better. These are decisions we’re all going to have to live with for a while so we’re going to take the time to make the right ones.

We understand that our main mission is bringing service members to the information commanders want them to have. We also understand that if we don’t make our products entertaining then the information won’t matter at all. People have to want to tune in and that means giving them something they want.

But anyone who tells you that AFN is “definitely going to do” anything doesn’t have a clue.

The bottom line is this: We ain’t going all Slim Shady on ya…peace out dawg!

Army Finance Strikes Again...

2006-06-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well, sorry for not blogging more often but we're getting ready to make the move back to Korea. Lots of paperwork, a few schools en route, major overhaul for the station wagon AND the German Shepherd...

Of course, my friends at Army finance struck again. I had turned in my paperwork for my last travel settlement and waited several days. After no response I called up and asked what had happened. I was told "we don't have any record of you turning anything in."

sigh....

I said, "but I have this email from such-and-such address confirming that you received my package via email."

I was told, "well, we automatically send those out and sometimes our computer drops the attachments from email."

You don't say :(

On a lighter note, I got my shiny new ID card today with "lieutenant colonel" on it. My wife and I are 20 seconds outside the ID section building when a female captain walks by me (both of us in uniform) and says, "hey" and nods her head.

I stopped and said, "Hey?"....she stopped and just stared at me, not saying a thing.

I told my wife, "go ahead dear, I may be a minute..."

Kind words for those that serve

2006-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to talk with this amazing guy yesterday. My whole family has been big fans of his since he first appeared (although I have to say Chris Daughtry was my own pick to win--hey, what do I know?). I made all the typically lame fan comments, love your stuff, we're big fans, blah blah blah and ended with "we just want to thank you for being such a great entertainer."

That's when he paused and said, "Well, thank you. No seriously, I thank all of you guys for doing what you do. It's guys like you who allow me to live out the American dream, so I thank you."

Gratitude like that makes it all worthwhile.

Kosovo Dad

For the 2% of you that didn't come here from Foxnews.com

2006-05-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I wrote something for the Fox Web site.

It's good to be at Fox :)

New Offensives in The Propaganda War

2006-05-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Propaganda War: What will it take to win?

People at the Pentagon are working on its strategic communications roadmap, one of the goals of which is to reduce cross-service stress, thus making our nation's strategic communications more effective.

Now, I don't know how much of a problem this is at the joint level...I don't work there and it's outside my lane. But my first reaction is that this is something that's long overdue. We need to understand that effective communication-call it strategic communication or a rose by any other name-requires all of the players to be involved. The biggest impediment to strategic communications is the lack of coordination...everyone's off doing their best, but often doing it in a vacuum.

This is something near and dear to my heart so I'm going to take the next few days to discuss a few of the issues this article raises-or fails to raise. This will keep me from posting one monster post that most folks won't get through, including me :)

Today's point is about tasking authority.

One of the obstacles to integrated strategic communications-from the public affairs standpoint-is getting the communications plans successfully integrated into the operational plans. If you're a PAO, you have had this happen: your higher headquarters in the public affairs chain will often call and say "hey, it'd be great if your unit could try to do this project, which will really help the Army's overall communications efforts." In all fairness, it usually is a pretty good idea-from their level.

Now anyone who has been in the Army more than a day knows that at this point it's all about the individual public affairs officer and whether or not they can make this happen.

The problem arises when the PAO goes to try and talk the unit into supporting this mission. The unit operations officer is going to say-and rightfully so, "If this is so damn important, why didn't we get a tasker to make it happen?"

This is a good question and critical to the successful integration of communications. The Army runs on paperwork and the king of paperwork is the tasking document. For most purposes, when you get a tasking document it's official that you actually have to do something.

So one of the first things we're going to have to fix is getting these great ideas into the tasking chain. When we identify a key stakeholder-which I define as an individual or group that can have a significant impact upon our mission accomplishment-which a subordinate unit can engage in communication that's advantageous to the bigger mission, we need to be able to task them to do so.

Some people will say, "We don't want to nickel and dime subordinates. We don't need to be "micromanaging" subordinate units and bases and telling them how to do their job. These folks have a lot on their plate and they don't need us calling them with taskers for simple things."

Well, isn't that what we're doing when we call the PAO? Only then the problem is that we want the PAO to accomplish the exact same thing without the benefit of tasking authority. For those unfamiliar with this process, PAOs have no tasking authority over subordinate units/personnel.

Other might say, "This is exactly what we're trying to prevent, having subordinates engage in what is our fight. We should be doing this at our level and protecting our subordinates."

I couldn't disagree more.
This is NOT like the division headquarters saying, "We're not going to tell battalions how to fight." The division headquarters should not be telling the battalion HOW to fight, but you can certainly bet that division HQ will tell them WHERE to fight and WHAT they are supposed to accomplish.

For instance, the joint force headquarters says, "We want this person or group to have a better understanding of what we do and why. We have identified them as critical to our communications efforts. Let's have the local Army base engage this group to accomplish this mission."

This is NOT telling the local army base how to fight their communications battles. This is telling them the WHERE and hopefully, the WHY.

If we are going to truly embrace and accomplish integrated strategic communications, we are obligated to bring the same effective processes to communications that we bring to everything else that we do. That means having the authority to make the right things happen.

That's enough for now...more later.

Retired generals and the SECDEF...another round?

2006-05-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

Retired Major General John Batiste wrote a gues essay that appeared in today’s online version of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Sometimes it’s tough to figure out who should be accountable after the fact, especially on something as uncertain as strategy. I wasn’t in the room when the strategy for Iraq was being formed, but I’m sure that the strategy was debated back and forth. I’m sure that camps were formed and arguments were presented both in the formal setting and in numerous hallway and email conversations.

I don’t know General Batiste, never served with him, and have heard lots of good things about him. I absolutely believe that anything he said was said in full good faith that it was the right thing for our country.

I would love to see more clarification on what exactly keeps the argument from being, “your mistake was in not listening to me”. It’s easier to say, “I knew this would happen” than it is to say, “here’s exactly why anyone would have expected this to happen”.

In any case, it doesn’t look like the debate will be over anytime soon.

To win in Iraq, war on terror, U.S. needs new defense chief

John Batiste
Guest essayist

(May 23, 2006) — The war in Iraq was started by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his inner circle who "knew everything," except how to win.Winning in war is an absolute and there is no substitute for victory. Americans go to war to win.

Driven by his contemptuous attitude, dismissiveness and arrogance, the defense secretary built a war plan that violated the principles of war. What should have been a deliberate victory is now a protracted challenge. He is responsible for America and her allies going to war with the wrong plan, setting the conditions for Abu Ghraib that fueled the insurgency and disbanding Iraqi security force institutions when we needed them most. The effort in Iraq has never recovered.

Our secretary of defense does not know how to win...

Read the full article here...

Speaking of the Saudis and School children

2006-05-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

These two men got on a school bus filled with students and began speaking Arabic. Under questioning they gave different answers as to why they did it...

Let the lame excuses begin. No doubt we'll hear more calls for more education in Arabic and how our society has brought this mix-up upon itself. Months from now on page 14 we might find out that they were really conducting reconnaissance work for possible terror attack sites...which we brought on ourselves as well.

Jewish Apes, Christian Swine and women who are one-half of a human

2006-05-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is what I wish the media spent more time on. You can only imagine--in fact, I CAN'T imagine--what the outrage would be in this country if our textbooks were written this way.

I might be wrong but I think if more people read this, we'd be much more supportive of the current War on Terror...

This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)
By Nina SheaSunday, May 21, 2006; Page B01

Saudi Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other "unbelievers." But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis -- that was all supposed to change.

A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom's religious studies curriculum "encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the 'other.' " Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts.

Well, apparently no such changes have been made, and the books have lots of examples of how to think about the infidels.

EIGHTH GRADE
"As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus."

TENTH GRADE
The 10th-grade text on jurisprudence teaches that life for non-Muslims (as well as women, and, by implication, slaves) is worth a fraction of that of a "free Muslim male." Blood money is retribution paid to the victim or the victim's heirs for murder or injury:
"Blood money for a free infidel. [Its quantity] is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, whether or not he is 'of the book' or not 'of the book' (such as a pagan, Zoroastrian, etc.).
"Blood money for a woman: Half of the blood money for a man, in accordance with his religion. The blood money for a Muslim woman is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, and the blood money for an infidel woman is half of the blood money for a male infidel."

Hat tip to Maj P guest writing over at OPFOR for this...

What exactly are we teaching our kids?

2006-05-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, more lessons in life from the New York City public school system.

My wife decided to volunteer for my daughter's class trip to "Medieval Times". My wife really enjoys helping both our daughters' teachers and often volunteers for whatever's needed. The bonus was that this promised to be a relatively fun trip.

The downside was that if parents wanted to go on this trip they had to pay a 40$ ticket fee. Okay...although steep, that's not insurmountable so we stepped up and paid for my wife early on...you see, there was only enough room on the bus for five parents. Worse, there were three parents who would be "required" to attend if they wanted their children to go on the trip because their angel was a disciplinary problem. That's right: for their child to go on the trip, a parent would be required to attend and to sit next to their child on the bus. As my wife was to find out later, the seating requirement did not extend to the event itself.

Now kudos to the school for one thing. At least they made the parent come and didn't have any problem identifying those children most likely to make the event overly taxing for the teacher. Frankly, I'm surprised that some lawyer didn't advise the school that they were opening themselves to a lawsuit by damaging the self-esteem of those children identified as problematic.

Here's the kicker.

If you were a parent required to accompany your child...you didn't have to pay the $40 fee. That's right...the taxpayers paid for your ticket.

So the $40 is apparently a tax on those parents that have taught their children to maintain at least a minimum standard of behavior. We're not talking about our own little angels here, we're just talking about being good enough not to require a parental escort on the field trip.

There's the argument that, "Parents who let their kids act like that probably wouldn't care enough to pay the money to come, so if we didn't pay for them their kids would miss out."

You know what? That's a decision for the parents that I'm okay with.

Apparently, there IS such a thing as a free lunch...if your kid is a big enough pain in the butt.

And his mom is a state trooper...

2006-05-18T12:08:00.001-07:00

What does it take to get through to some people? I'm not talking about Lionel Tate here. I'm talking about the people who keep putting dangerous animals like this on probation.

Fla. teen gets 30 years for gun possession

FORT LAUDERDALE (AP) — Lionel Tate, the teenager who got a second chance after he beat and stomped a 6-year-old girl to death, was sent back to prison for 30 years Thursday for gun possession.
"In plain English, you've run out of chances. You do not get any more," Circuit Judge Joel T. Lazarus told Tate, who smirked as he was led off to jail in shackles.

Even if you didn't think he had run out of chances when he stomped a little girl to death you might think he had run out of chances well before this:

Since his release in 1999, Tate has had numerous run-ins with the law. In 2004, the judge sentenced him to an additional five years' probation for having a knife.

Murder, "numerous run-ins" and a knife charge...The solution's clear. Time to tell this young animal "Stop or we'll say stop again".

Tate, now 19, was convicted of beating Tiffany Eunick to death in 1999, when he was 12, claiming he accidentally killed the girl while imitating pro wrestling moves he had seen on television. He became the youngest person in modern U.S. history to receive a life sentence.
His murder conviction was overturned in 2004 by an appeals court that said it was not clear Tate understood the charges. He was freed under a deal in which he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years' probation.

The best part...he still faces trial in September for the robbery for which he was carrying the gun.

"He continues to get bad advice from meddling third parties," Williams said outside court.
Williams said Tate's mother, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Kathleen Grossett-Tate, told him he could win an appeal on the probation violation conviction, win his robbery case and leave jail in a year. She left court without commenting.

Apparently "trooper" is not the Florida equivalent of "lawyer".

Holding my breath...

2006-05-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, my editor here at Fox says that my story on the 2006 milblogging conference should hit the foxnews.com web site on Monday late in the afternoon. Of course, it's just in time for the 2007 Milblogging conference :)

Once again, I've learned an important lesson for when dealing with my own servicemembers...make all--or at least most--of your edits in one fell swoop. Of course, from my end I should never add new stuff for version three. Duh-OH!!

Never underestimate the ingenuity of the military

2006-05-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Once a fisherman, always a fisherman...

Chicago TribuneMay 17, 2006 Pg. 1

GIs Angle For Quiet Time At Baghdad School Of Fly Fishing
By Aamer Madhani, Tribune staff reporter

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- Like many of his fellow anglers in the Baghdad School of Fly Fishing, Navy Lt. Joel Stewart thought an afternoon of casting on one of Saddam Hussein's lakes could make him feel as though he had escaped the war and was back in his native Montana, fishing for trout.

But sometimes he couldn't pretend.

"There was one time when I was casting and a rocket landed in the lake about 400 meters from me," said Stewart, an avid angler and founder of the club dedicated to introducing U.S. soldiers in Iraq to what is known as the "quiet sport."

Other fishing excursions have been interrupted by gun battles and roadside bombs exploding within earshot. "I wasn't in any real danger, but it was a real reminder of where we're at," Stewart said.

For many soldiers, the war in Iraq is about enduring painfully long stretches of boredom punctuated by brief flashes of terror. Even the most battle-seasoned of infantrymen can weather months of humdrum patrols without firing a shot or being fired at.
Finding ways to maintain sanity during the valleys of the fight can sometimes be as daunting as the peaks of battle, the soldiers say.

On U.S. bases, video games are perhaps the most popular downtime distractions, particularly games that mimic war, such as Halo and Mortal Kombat. The U.S. military has also built state-of-the-art gyms and rock-climbing walls, and it screens movies to offer troops temporary reprieves from the stress of their work.

There is no bar scene, such as the one U.S. troops enjoyed in Saigon, and there have been few stories of GIs meeting their future brides, as many American troops did during World War II. But the variety of diversions and creature comforts available to troops in Iraq is astounding compared with previous wars.

At some of the military post exchanges soldiers can purchase flat-screen televisions, DVDs, Maxim magazine and other comforts of home. The Internet and the availability of cellular phones have made keeping in touch with loved ones back home easy and relatively inexpensive.
Some U.S. troops use their downtime to take correspondence courses, hundreds blog on the Internet and a few have even formed rock bands.

But the Baghdad School of Fly Fishing based at Camp Victory is unique.

"I can't tell you the number of times I have come out with a fly rod and solved the world's problems," said U.S. Army Maj. Vance Sperry, a club director, on a recent afternoon as he took an hourlong break to cast a line.

Stewart, a Montana native whose yearlong tour ended in February, founded the club to help fellow service members clear their minds while teaching them a sport they could enjoy back home. When Stewart went home, Lt. Col. William Jones and Sperry took over.

"There is nothing better than spending a day fly fishing," said Jones, taking time recently from his job in the planning and policy unit of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq to lead a class. "Here, we're lucky to get free for an hour twice a week, but I'll take it. It's good to get your mind off things for a little while. Everybody out here has to find a way. This is mine."

This spring, during the chaos that consumed Iraq after the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, Jones and his colleagues worked 20 hours a day. When things slowed down to the more normal 14-hour workday, the first thing Jones did was head to one of the lakes on base with his fly rod, he said.

Stewart said he started fly fishing at Camp Victory whenever he could find a free hour. The manmade lakes still teem with carp and other fish stocked during Hussein's regime.

"Some guys do PT [physical training] to unwind," Stewart said in a telephone interview from his new base in Rhode Island. "I do PT because you have to. Fly fishing allows me to decompress. When you're deployed you have to have something to let your mind escape for a little while."

Inevitably, service members who saw Stewart fishing would stop to inquire about it. Some of them asked if they could join him. Stewart, an ambassador of the sport, would always oblige.
With all the interest from soldiers and sailors who wanted to learn how to fly fish, Stewart got the idea to start an eight-week course. The class focuses on teaching the basics of the sport and is open to service members at Camp Victory.

He started posting notes on a fly fishing bulletin board on the Internet, writing about fishing in Iraq and his desire to teach other service members to fly fish. Soon, enthusiasts in the United States were mailing him flies, reels, rods and other equipment to run his class.
Stewart also started a Web site to post his war zone fishing tales (all true, he insists) and updates on the classes.

In one entry from August, he described an hourlong battle with a behemoth fish called a mangar, a species found in the Tigris River.

"He turned towards the brush pile and I strained the connection between us, trying to turn his massive head out of the danger zone," Stewart wrote. "That proved to be too much for my weary tippet and it gave up the fight. Just like that it was over. I had been in the fight for an hour and felt every minute of it. The moment of defeat-induced despair was quickly overcome with the euphoria fed by adrenaline. I had fought the fish of a lifetime for an hour."

Stewart graduated 34 anglers from the Baghdad School of Fly Fishing before returning to the U.S. Jones hopes to graduate dozens more before he heads home early next year.

"My hope was to get some guys out of their hooches and out of the MWR [Morale, Welfare and Recreation centers], teach them to fly fish and find something that would give them a little distraction," Stewart said. "It's gone way better than I thought it would."

Why is it liening?

2006-05-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Army Wives…

Sometimes it’s easy to forget the little annoyances that Army Wives have to deal with. A h/t to Homefront Six for reminding us what wives go through almost every day. And my prayers and thanks to those wives who have way more to worry about than little stuff like this.

Because we’re getting ready to head back to the “Land of the Morning Calm” ourselves, my own Homefront Six had to make some arrangements to take our beloved HD Softail overseas. Because we still owe a little bit on it, she contacted the Army’s Transportation Office here at lovely Fort Hamilton to make certain we could still take the bike overseas.

Apparently, asking for the right paperwork over the phone isn’t as easy as it seems.

Here’s the conversation: I kid you not.

Hello? Is this the transportation office?
Yes it is, how can we help?

My husband and I are getting ready to move overseas. We have a motorcycle that we’d like to take in our household goods, but there’s a lien on it. What kind of paperwork do we need?
What do you mean it’s leaning?

What? No, there’s a lien on it. Do we need something from the bank?
I don’t get it. Your motorcycle leans?

No, no…there’s a lien…. we’re still paying on it. We don’t actually own it outright.
Ma’am, you don’t even have the motorcycle? How can you take it to Korea if you don’t have it?

No…We’re still paying on it.
You’re paying on a motorcycle you don’t even have?

Okay, thanks for your help.
We decided to just pay it off. Apparently that’s much easier.

And as far as riding the motorcycle is concerned...that's easy, just lien into the wind.

--kosovodad

Milblog ring

2006-05-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Milblog ring
Originally uploaded by kosovodad.

Testing a theory for my blogring pic

Apparently, it's not the first time...

2006-05-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

Our new favorite minor leaguer, Delmon Young, has been a bad man before. Apparently he threw a bat towards a pitcher who had come too close with a pitch.

Also this from the Heraldsun
"[Dmitri] just told me to keep my head up and get through it," Delmon Young said. "I'm not really such a bad person. I may act up a little bit every once in a while, but I'm really not a bad person."
When he was playing for Double-A Montgomery last season, Young was suspended for three games by the Southern League for bumping the chest of plate umpire Jeff Latter.
Bulls shortstop B.J. Upton, billed along with Young as the future of the Devil Rays, said some players were expecting the suspension to be longer.
"He realizes what happened and what he did," Upton said. "I honestly think he never meant to hit the umpire. He's young and he made a mistake.

I don't think he MEANT to hit the umpire???

Well, there you have it.

They're over here!

2006-05-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought it was safe to protect your civil rights? Well, it seems that the bigger problem here is that the MSM can’t get it right, can’t ask the tough questions, and can’t understand why people get ticked at their inability to do the first two.

Is the U.S. Border Patrol selling out the Minutemen to the Mexican Government?

When you read the headline and lead paragraph, you’re lead to believe that the U.S. Border Patrol is tipping off the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen border patrols. Whoa, that’s crazy and dangerous isn’t it?

Except once you read through the story you find out that the BP is letting the Mexican gov’t know where the patrols WERE that arrested someone.

Is the BP telling them in advance? We don’t know from this story because that question never got asked or answered.

But this quote from a BP spokesman makes it seem like the BP is telling the Mexican govt where the Minutemen are going to be in the future…

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Mario Martinez said Monday.

This is just one more reason why people continue to lose faith in the Media.

One strike and you're out.

2006-05-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Or maybe "Take me out of the ball game."
Or maybe "Seventh Inning Prison Stretch?"

Delmon Young, a minor league ball player for the Durham Bulls was suspended for 50 games just days after he hit an umpire with a thrown bat after taking a called third strike.

This guy should be arrested for assault and sent to jail. It's time to stop allowing major sports organizations to continue to punish internally for what would be a felony outside of the organization.

You can read some of the stories here and here.

You can see the video of the incident here. You don’t see him actually throw the bat but he walks off to the left of the screen and you see the bat come flying back and hit the umpire after bouncing off the ground.

Okay, 50 games is a lot. He made a quick and fairly complete apology. It’s believed to be the longest suspension in the International League’s 123-year history and it will probably cost Mr. Young around $145,000.

And yes, if you or I did it the fine probably wouldn’t be nearly that much. But you know what the difference would be?

We would have a criminal record. How much might that cost us over the course of our lives?

I’m so tired of athletes throwing a temper tantrum to eclipse that of any toddler in the full-on throes of the “terrible twos” and then turning around and saying “oops, my bad, I didn’t mean it.” You know what? You DID mean it. You may not have meant to get in so much trouble over it, but you definitely meant to do it.

And you should pay for it like the rest of us…No more special favors just because you’re an “athlete”.

A photo update

2006-05-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

The AFRTS conference wasn't all work for those of you that were worried. We spent some time learning about the Temecula Valley wine country.

Waiting for the start of the Five Boro Bike Tour

Some people bring their whole family out for the tour. I'm hoping that cats don't get up this early.

And something I found that every military person who has ever been on any staff at any level can probably relate to.

A few good updates.

2006-05-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

I've updated the blogroll...check these folks out because they're a wealth of good information and very good at what they do.

Last week I attended the American Forces Radio and Television Service's worldwide conference. Events like this are really good for getting the masses jazzed about what we do. At least I know it works on me! I had the chance to sit next to Alison Barber during dinner (see my posts on "name dropping is such a vulgar thing". I have met very few people more dedicated to serving the men and women of the armed services than her. You know how you can just tell when people don't really have their heart in what they're doing? Well, you can definitely tell with her. Her heart is definitely all-in the America Supports You program. I've been really happy to see guys like Gary Sinise go out there and support the troops. Guys like that can't get enough credit. It'd be nice to see those hollywood types that say "I support the troops, but..." get out there and do the same. Although, given what I said about knowing when people's hearts are in it, it might not be such a good idea.

I had mentioned the 2006 mil blogging conference to her and gave her the names of some blogs to read. Who knows how that will turn out...

I also happened to pick up a copy of Dungeon Seige II, which has been a boatload of fun.

I also had the chance to meet some of the great people that I'll be working with when I get to the American Forces Network of Korea. It was a definitely a great opportunity to meet the team and I'm really excited. Although, as we all know, the best part of the deal is that the family is excited about the move as well. As we say in the military, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."
Amen!!

Just got an email from my branch rep...apparently my number has come up and I'll be getting promoted on 1 June. Yep, my field grade lobotomy is almost complete. Woo Hoo!! It's been a long strange trip since I was a Private First Class wwwaaayyy back in 1984...not to mention several career field changes, Military Police, Field Artillery, Military Intelligence, and now Public Affairs.

Ah yes, like every good military story..."no bulls#$%, there I was," >>cue the orchestra<<

No No No, there'll be no singing. None of that! Back on track...

Saturday I went on the Five Borough Bike Tour. Just me and 29,999 of my closest friends. $55 dollars for "day-of" registration and NO t-shirt, what the hell? Anyway, it was a good 39-42 mile bike ride (depending on whose odometer you're using) through--you guessed it--all five boroughs of New York. It was neat to ride over several of the bridges and down the BWE and the Belt Parkway, which were closed off.

I did have one spill however, when some dork cut a woman off and clipped her front tire causing her to crash right in front of me. Fortunately I avoided running over her, but fell down on the curb myself. Nothing worse than a few scrapes and bruises. The funny thing was watching people try to bike ride and use their cell phones at the same time. I'm sure that these are the same jerks that make auto driving worse for everyone as well. GET OFF THE PHONE AND PAY ATTENTION!!

The hardest part of the ride was probably crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. This is a pretty long, two-story bridge. That means you go uphill for quite a long while and you're on the bottom level, which creates this giant wind tunnel effect. But the nice part is that this is definitely one of those "feels so good when it's over moments" when it's done. I got the pic here.

Name dropping is such a vulgar thing...

2006-05-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

As I was telling Gene Simmons of KISS, just the other day. This guy is definitely a nut...but he does know quite a bit about p/e ratios, stock options, etc. I was amazed at the depth of his business knowledge.

Who knew the secret life of the Easter Bunny?

2006-04-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'll double check the elevator from now on, that's for sure.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5427138374898988918&pl=true

And the winner is Mark!

2006-04-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

For guessing "kangaroo fetus". Mark wins because he guessed...not because he guessed correctly.

The correct answer would be "my wife's contact case she was sterilizing in boiling water and forgot about, causing the water to completely evaporate and the contact case to melt spewing toxic plastic fumes throughout the house".

Good job Mark!

Trivia question: What was this?

2006-04-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here you go! I'm getting ready to travel to California but I'll be back soon. When I get out there I'll tell you what this was, but until then, any guesses?

Mike

One of these handsome men is witty, charming and was heavily recruited as the next White House press secretary

2006-04-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

The other one is Tony Snow...apparently he does something with radio. Oh, and he got the job too.

Getting the PAOs involved in the conversation...

2006-04-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well, we're going to try and see how this works. I'm not so sure how the two blog thing is going to work. I may just shut down "925Army" and roll it up into my own blog here. Maybe that's my "purpose" (for those of you that have seen "Avenue Q", which is a musical where 'sesame street' meets 'south park'...you haven't laughed your ass off until you see the muppets singing "the internet is for PORN").

Anyway, check out--for as long as it lasts--the blog at 925Army...I'm hoping to get more PAOs in the conversations that we're having about IO/Media/PA and other stuff.

Mike

Send me your tired, your poor, your Mil Blog Conf photos

2006-04-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

On the off chance that anyone sees this today...Please feel free to send me 2-4 photos from the Mil Blog Conference that I can use for my foxnews.com story. I just need a first/last name with each to ensure proper credit.

thanks,
Mike

Here I am!

2006-04-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Stand in the door!

2006-04-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we're preparing to make the jump...