WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! ARTICLE 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chesty' Puller Didn't Have Right Image By Today's Standards ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Military promotion boards and the current clique of politically focused senior leaders seem to filter out the real war fighters before they can reach their full career potential. Here is how Chesty Puller one of our greatest Marine leaders would have fared.From the Marine Times of 17 April. ************************************************************************ By Ellis Breckinridge (Ellis Breckinridge is a pseudonym for a combat veteran with more than 23 years of Marine Corps service) Occasionally, Marines like to look at the past and wonder how today's Corps would have performed. This is one of those ponderings -- a musing of what might have happened if we traveled back in time, transposing our standards of today onto an earlier era. The scene is a promotion board. The players are board members who have reviewed their assigned cases and are now briefing them: Col. Starseeker looked down at his notes, not relishing what he saw, but knowing the Corps deserved his best advice. "Gentlemen," he began, "the record of this Marine is mixed, but I think he deserves our consideration. First, we need to look at the high points. He is obviously well-versed in his profession, having spent most of his career in the operating forces, deployed numerous times and been in combat on more than one occasion. He has even been decorated for his ability to lead troops under fire." The colonel paused to let the statements sink into the board members' minds, but the bland looks indicated they were not impressed. After all, they assumed Marines knew their jobs and would perform admirably in crisis -- tradition willed it. Such attributes as those described were normally noted only if they were lacking. Combat performance denoted nothing special. The briefer continued. "He has completed his required professional military education and ranks high among his peers in tactical skills." Still no looks of support from the board. "His most recent assignment was as a commander, during which he deployed to protect Americans and conduct peacekeeping operations -- quite successfully I might add." "Stop," interrupted Col. Nomistakes. "I see on his master brief sheet that he fell short of perfection while a commander. What was that all about?" "Seems he disagreed with a senior officer, and said so," the briefing colonel replied. The room filled with angry frowns. "I checked on it; this officer has a reputation for speaking his mind. If you look at his record, you will note he did the same thing when he was a lieutenant. He is smart, but he thinks we actually want to hear his opinions. And as a commander, it got him into trouble when he differed with his commanding officer and acted without specific directions." "Did he do it in public?" asked Imagemaker. "No, but according to the reporting senior, his comments and subsequent actions, although apparently right, could have made the command look bad." With that, the sound of air sucking through several sets of teeth vibrated through the room, for the board knew the Marine had embarrassed his senior. "Well, what else do we need to hear?" grumbled Imagemaker. "Apparently he is a fine leader and his Marines love him, even if he is a little unorthodox and, at times, drinks more than one beer. Like I said, he has spent most of his career in the field, at the regimental level and below. He did do a brief joint tour, but only in a joint task force in Latin America, not on a real staff. And, much worse, he never served in Washington, D.C." The gasps among the collected members of the board meant another officer faced doom. "So let me get this straight," interrupted Col. Beancounter, "We are talking about an officer who is a superb tactical leader with extensive field experience and a proven record of operational competence. Yet, he has not served on a high-level staff, freely voices his opinions and probably would not fit in here in Washington. If the Corps wants to promote the best and brightest and win the battles of the future, I see no real issues with this Marine. I've heard enough, let's vote." Three months later, the Corps releases the list of those selected for promotion. Absent from the roll is a tactically brilliant, sometimes abrasive combat veteran by the name of Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. =============================================================== ARTICLE 6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ V-22 OSPREY ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: More critical thoughts on the "Osprey" debacle. *********************************************************************** By Myrl A., USMC-Ret I worked for SecDef in Systems Analysis (TacAir) 1970-73 under John Ahearne. The Osprey technology has been under examination since at least the 70s, and possibly the 60s. The Osprey is a technological and a maintenance nightmare. The Osprey "program" was never viable, and was dropped by the Bush Administration with good reason. The Osprey program has been revised by the present Administration for political and "military-industrial-complex" reasons. The aircraft is still highly experimental; and the USMC General responsible for allowing anyone but essential flight crew members aboard the doomed aircraft should be reprimanded. By contrast, the F-4 Phantom was 50s technology, introduced to the Fleet in the 60s, and remains one of the greatest aircraft of all time. Yet the USMC attempted to obtain F-14s in the early 70s, to the detriment of the entire USMC fighter program. The F-14 is essentially a "non-Marine", non-deployable aircraft... unless you have an accompanying US aircraft carrier from which to support and maintain the F-14. Some Marines think the Osprey will be "like the Harrier"... let's continue the program, exploit the Congressional clout the USMC is famous for, and pour more money into the Osprey "until it works". After nearly 30 years of research, effort. and now 19 more lives... take a hint, USMC: IT AIN'T GONNA WORK! Which IMMEDIATELY presents a HUGE USMC problem: The USMC has "bet the homestead" on Osprey replacing CH-46 vertical lift. CH-46s are going off-line; and technology is not advancing fast enough to bring in the Osprey any where near "on time" nor" on budget". One "immediate action" relief for the immediate Marine vertical lift requirements -- Army helicopter production lines. Unfortunately, that is normally a "no, no!" The USN/USMC usually don't want anybody else's "birds" but their own. The service pig-headedness, if continued, could lead to an interesting conclusion: the Army, with their push to "look like the Marines" and with their new buy of choppers, could end up with the USMC's vertical assault mission -- by default. If the Osprey "solution" is pursued, the USMC will be "outta schlitz",and sooner or later outta vertical lift! ============================================================== ARTICLE 7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joint and Reserve Component Integration - making Military Intelligence work ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Joint integration and a careful cross-training between active and reserve forces can overcome bureaucratic inefficiencies in the Intel field. A Navy proposal. ************************************************************************ By John Vanore, CDR, USNR (Ret.) Three weeks ago, we read in these pages about the plight of the Army's Reserve Component Military Intelligence. Lack of realistic training and poor leadership were identified as the cornerstones of a deteriorating program. The author suggested that an injection of active duty officers and NCOs might remedy the situation. I propose a different solution, one that would foster joint service cooperation and bring to bear the lessons learned from a service that did it right. Cross-assign select officers and enlisted personnel from Naval Reserve Intelligence into Army Reserve and National Guard MI units to show them how it's done. Assign them not only to the units, but to higher-echelon staffs who can provide the organizational muscle to push improvements along. And, if they're not already players, get the Guard and Reserve MI units involved in the Joint Reserve Intelligence Program. It's proven highly effective at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and has much potential for growth. I spent 14 years in the Naval Reserve Intelligence Program, and was part of an organization that was tightly woven into the active duty side's missions and operations. Naval Reserve Intelligence officers and enlisted Intelligence Specialists routinely perform "contributory support" on their weekend drills, doing research, analysis and production tasks and delivering finished products to the active duty side of the house. During my career, I was assigned to units supporting the Office of Naval Intelligence, CNO staff, OSD, DLA, a NATO staff, and Naval Forces Europe. On my weekend drills, I provided unit training and current intelligence support. I took part in long-term intelligence analyses and studies on Soviet ballistic missile submarine operations, and supported DoD's efforts at stemming illicit technology transfer. And during my two-week Annual Training, my duties ranged from performing threat analysis for Navy R&D programs to standing in for three weeks as the Number Two man in Naval Intelligence in the European Theater. Did we have careerists in the program, self-serving "Perfumed Prince" wanna-be's with no clue as to Naval intelligence operations and concerned only over their own advancement? You betcha! Did we have politically-correct sycophants, boot-licking toadies and other bureaucratically unassailable stumbling blocks along the road to progress? We sure did! But the overwhelming majority of personnel in the program were dedicated professionals, trained and ready to deploy on short notice, as many of us did for Operations Desert Shield/Storm. We have Reserve Liaison Officers at the active duty commands who do their level best to put reservists into meaningful assignments during their two weeks' Annual Training. And we have an active component that recognizes the skills reservists bring to the table and eagerly uses those reservists to fill in for the all-too-frequent personnel shortages across the Navy's shore establishment. ============================================================== ARTICLE 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retention, gays, and the end of the world as we know it ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: Another realistic soldier opinion. Why is she getting out? Because the organizations we have engineered are not designed to fight wars but to provide an outlet for social experimentation and the political aggrandizement of non-war fighting leaders.. *********************************************************************** SPC Jennifer Gray, Broadcast Journalist, US Army After spending just 4 short years in the Army, I have decided without a doubt, to run! Under the current administration, we have become subjects for every social program they can come up with. It's bad enough to have a Commander-in-Chief who never served, but a Congress coupled with the general public's undying adoration of him-it is disastrous for the Armed Forces, and it's effects will wreak havoc for years to come. I'm tired of the mandatory classes given every month-from Dignity and Respect training, to Consideration of Others. I did not join the Army to be nice to others, or not get my feelings hurt. I joined to fight the nation's wars. In response to DIRECT threats against the U.S., I would not willingly go to combat today with any of my "leaders" or peers. I know they can tell a politically correct joke, and be sensitive to the needs of homosexuals, but when it comes to pulling a trigger....well, our training time has been wasted by all the other sensitivity classes, so real soldiering took a back seat. As far as fighting the nation's wars-we've been stretched way too thin on these peacekeeping missions in 3rd world countries. The Balkan region has been fighting for thousands of years, and it will probably never quit. In the meantime, their economic future does not hinder ours in any way. These NATO and UN missions are getting tiring. Europe needs to take care of their back yard neighbors. I come from a long line of soldiers, dating all the way back to GEN Robert E. Lee. And I'm sure he would be rolling in his grave if he knew the so-called leaders, and battles we were "fighting." I am thoroughly disgusted with the military. Maybe if we had a whole new administration, and leaders with some back bone, the United States would be considered, without a doubt, the greatest force on the planet. Not, we're entrenched with a bunch of limp-wristed, liberal whiners. What's next-women in combat? ============================================================== ARTICLE 9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another letter from Kosovo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ed.: More of the ground truth about the recent clash between American peacekeepers and Serbs during a weapons search. Propagandistic write-ups in the European Stars and Stripes hail the success of the planners and the leaders. The soldier perspective appears different. Here it is to round out your opinion. Our troops are making the best of a bad situation made even worse by mediocre leaders! If you know the GLORY HOUND, please write us!!! ************************************************************************ By a Frontline trooper in Kosovo (identity not revealed for obvious reasons) What started out as soldiers of the 709th MP BN assisting the UN mission in Kosovo in searching and questioning a suspect in a crime turned into a violent showdown on April 4, as it has so many times in the same area. The people of this Serbian enclave are more than happy to allow us to take people who are suspected of crimes such as simple assault and burglary against their fellow neighbors. But they are devoutly fighting the arrest of anyone for weapons violations. This is the third time this has happened in this area. Each time that we arrest someone for weapons violations, the locals protest and attempt to block the detention of the accused criminal. There have been no organized efforts to search this Serbian safe haven for weapons. The Polish troops are viewed as sympathizers by the locals and seem unwilling to upset their Serbian friends. Our leadership says that we are back patrolling the sector. This is a hollow truth. The only way we can patrol this area is with "the Polish riding along with us". In fact, what they are actually doing is escorting us through the area. We know that the weapons are there, but we are restrained by our command from bringing this area into compliance. It saddens me to hear the stories of the soldiers who were on the ground that fateful day. They fought valiantly to protect themselves and the people we are here to protect. With all the injuries suffered and no victory to claim, the soldiers feel betrayed by the command. The command walks around with the media, scrambling for attention and promotion and saying they "have a can of whoop---" for the next time this happens. It disturbs me how many times one person in particular has been featured in Stars and Stripes. We commonly refer to him as "Glory Hound". Another disturbing fact is that the only people interviewed by Stripes are part of his entourage. The continued lawlessness adds insult to injury. With a sweeping cordon and search utilizing the element of surprise, enough troops, and competent leadership, we can bring this area out of lawlessness and redeem our tarnished pride. =============================================================== **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
