Monthly Archives: May 2009
Memorial Day
Today is the day, and I hope all who read this take or took some time to remember those that have fallen. The wars this country has had to endure has reached millions, the training accidents that have happened to members of our military has reached thousands I am sure. Please take the time to think of them and their family members. I am spending time today with family, to include my son who is also a veteran of Afghanistan and my father who is a veteran of Vietnam (and other places that cannot be mentioned) and I can guarantee we will all be thinking of many who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Bouhammer Honor Roll:
PFC Thomas Johnson – Vietnam
SGT Ed Kutz – Desert Storm
SGT Ronald Randazzo – Desert Storm
SGT David Roustum – Operation Iraqi Freedom
PFC Ben Scheuster – Operation Iraqi Freedom
SGM Jeff McLochlin – Operation Enduring Freedom
MSG Bernard Deghand – Operation Enduring Freedom
SPC Nelson Rodriguez – Operation Enduring Freedom
Rest in Peace Warriors, we will meet on the battlefield again one day.
Arms sent by US to Afghan forces in Taliban hands
Bouhammer Note- This is another reason why I think we should have never given the Afghan forces one single M4, M16 or M240 MG. I have talked about their inability to keep them clean, serviceable, etc. Now how about their inability to keep them?
WASHINGTON, May 20, 2009 (AFP) – Pentagon munitions have leaked from Afghan forces to Taliban militants, enabling them to fight an insurgency for years against materially superior US and Afghan forces, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
According to a Times study of ammunition markings, of 30 rifle magazines removed from the corpses of insurgents in eastern Afghanistan last month, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, "identical" to ammunition the United States has provided to Afghan government forces.
Although "the scope of that diversion remains unknown," the newspaper warned that "poor discipline and outright corruption among Afghan forces may have helped insurgents stay supplied" in the wake of "only spotty" US and Afghan controls of weapons and ammunition sent to Afghanistan.
Following criticism for failing to account for thousands of rifles provided to Afghan security forces, some of which have been found in the hands of militants, the Pentagon launched a database documenting small arms supplied to Afghan units.
And the US-led Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, which is responsible for training and supplying Afghan forces, has said it has prioritized accounting for all Afghan military and police property.
"The emphasis from our perspective is on accountability of all logistics property," the transition command’s deputy chief, Brigadier General Anthony Ierardi told the newspaper.
Leakage of Pentagon-supplied armaments to insurgents is an "absolutely worst-case scenario," he said.
But no similar system of accountability is applied to ammunition, which is more difficult to trace than firearms.
Military officers told the newspaper that US forces do not examine all captured arms and munitions to determine how they fell into the hands of insurgents and whether the Afghan government was supplying — even indirectly — the Taliban.
The reasons for the gap, according to The Times, owed to "limited resources and institutional memory of issued arms, as well as an absence of collaboration between field units that collect equipment and the investigators and supervisors in Kabul who could trace it."
Insurgents continue white phosphorus attacks
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (May 19, 2009) – Today, militants continued to attack International Security Assistance Force personnel using white phosphorus munitions. In Gayan District, Paktika province, insurgents mortared an ISAF combat outpost with white phosphorus and high explosive rounds. No injuries or damage were reported.
This past week, two other cases of enemy white phosphorus use have been recorded in Regional Command-East, following the 11 May release of 38 declassified instances of insurgent white phosphorus access and misuse against personnel.
On May 16, ISAF troops in Bamiyan discovered a large cache of various ordnance, including nine 82mm white phosphorus mortar rounds. The rounds, which were photographed as evidence, were collected for destruction.
Also on May 16, an ISAF unit located a white phosphorus 107mm rocket emplaced in the vicinity of an ISAF forward operating base in Kama District, Nangahar province. The rocket, which had been aimed in the direction of the base, was later safely disarmed.
White phosphorus is appropriately employed for screening of troop movements, marking targets, illumination, as well as destruction of unoccupied bunkers, buildings and weapons systems, and the demolition of otherwise flammable materials such as ammo and petroleum products.
WP is used as a smoke-producing agent common to the arsenals of many nations, and is classified as conventional ordnance. It is not designed for use against personnel.
ISAF employs white phosphorus in accordance with theatre rules of engagement and international law.