A cut in pay leads to murder

The Afghan soldier who gunned down nine Americans in a shooting rampage at a military compound in Kabul last April targeted and killed his U.S. mentors after they took away his wings and cut his salary nearly in half because he was unable to learn English, a longtime colleague of the killer has told FoxNews.com.
A second Afghan airman, who was wounded in the April 27 attack, says the gunman, Col. Ahmed Gul, also intended to kill Afghans who were working with the Americans at the base at Kabul Airport. And he said he fears there will be more incidents like it as the war winds down.

Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/26/exclusive-flunked-english-class-pay-cut-behind-afghans-shooting-rampage-at-us/#ixzz1kbHdWHGG

I can’t say this is much different from Americans. We hear all the time about fired disgruntled workers who go back into the workplace and gun down their managers, co-workers, etc.

What is surprising in this whole thing is that the Air Force just released their Special Investigation report into this incident and there was no mention of the cut in pay or flying status. Why would that be? It could be that none of it is true, or that it is but the Air Force for some reason is hiding that fact or did not want to make that known for some politically correct reason.

I would say that if this were true, it would be a prime motive of why COL Gul decided to murder. I would hope that the Air Force is not trying to hide this in order to hide the fact that as we mentor and train Afghans to do their jobs and secure their own country that we would and should be holding them accountable and thereby punishing them when needed.

I don’t mean to sound all conspiracy theorist here but lets just say I have seen more than my fair share of covering up of Afghan inadequacies and shortfalls by US military and civilian leadership.

Photo Courtesy of www.bigstockphoto.com

This is why the French are considered wussies

France suspended its training operations in Afghanistan and threatened to withdraw its entire force from the country early, after an Afghan wearing an army uniform shot and killed four French troops Friday and wounded others.

So after two of their soldiers are killed by Afghan security forces the French are ready to pack it in and go home. Are they that shallow and weak that it only takes that to get them to quit? No wonder they got rolled over by the Nazis so quickly.

Now I bet if Afghanistan had their oil like Libya did they would be willing to stick around a little bit longer.

These are the same allies that when they are in trouble that they come begging to us to help them out. We need to learn when to say NO!

2012 units going to Afghanistan, including the Dog Face Soldiers of 3rd ID

I knew this was coming since the 3rd ID HQ was slated to go to Iraq in November but then was stood down after the administration could not work an extension deal. They are trained and ready to go to war and make it happen.

Besides they are led by the best Division Commander the Army has today (in my humble opinion), my very close and longtime friend MG Robert ‘Abe’ Abrams. I know Abe has a solid staff, has led by example with ethics and integrity and that he and the rest of the Dog Face Soldiers of the Rock of the Marne Division will make America Proud.

DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation

The Department of Defense today identified three major units to deploy as part of the upcoming rotation of forces operating in Afghanistan. The scheduled rotation will begin in Spring 2012.

This announcement involves one division headquarters totaling approximately 1,000 personnel and two brigade combat teams totaling approximately 5,800 personnel.

Headquarters units:

• 3rd Infantry Division HQ, Fort Stewart, Ga.

Brigade Combat Teams:

• 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C. (to deploy as a partial BCT).

• 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

DoD will continue to announce major deployments as they are approved. For information on the respective deployments contact 3rd Infantry Division HQ, public affairs office, 912-435-9876, and the 82d Airborne Division Rear Detachment, public affairs office, 910-432-0661.

Bouhammer’s take on the Marine Video

Anyone that has watched any news this morning or been reading it online probably knows about the video that appears to show US Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters. I say “appears” because well these guys are INNOCENT until proven guilty. All too often the same people who many in this county feel sorry for and think aren’t able to do anything but serve in the military are held to a completely different standard and aren’t afforded the same rights they fight to protect.

I agree the video looks pretty bad, but so did the bloody glove that didn’t fit. However I would hope that American and the World does not convict these guys in public opinion before they are given a fair chance in a court of military law. If they did do this act and if there are no extenuating circumstances and are found guilty, then they should be punished based on the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and not on the Media hype or Congressional babbling that may come from this. Continue reading →

Who to blame?

I wonder who is to blame in this situation.

A Massachusetts school board has denied a teacher’s request for three paid days off to welcome home her soldier stepson who was seriously injured while serving in Afghanistan.

Sonya Lomax, a high school math teacher in Carver, Mass., had asked for the three additional days to visit with her stepson, 23-year-old Army Spc. Todd Lomax, who was seriously wounded after being hit by shrapnel in a grenade explosion in Kandahar Province in October.
Lomax had already taken the nine paid days of leave allotted to her under her contract, but requested an additional three days of leave, citing “extenuating circumstances,”…

Read more: www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/10/massachusetts-teacher-denied-extra-paid-leave-to-welcome-home-son-wounded-in/#ixzz1j4b5gyxO

At first glance you would think the School Board is to blame and maybe they are to some extent. However after reading the whole story at the link above part of me thinks maybe it is the union’s fault too. Not because they didn’t somehow predict the future and account for this but probably because they are such a pain the a$$ to deal with that the School board is trying to teach them a lesson and show them that if they want to play by the rules, then the rules it is.

I will be the first to admit I HATE unions, I mean DEPLORE them. I have friends, very close ones, in unions. Some are by the choice, others are forced into it in order to hold the job that they do. Unions are an outdated concept in my opinion and I think our society (who aren’t in love with unions) would agree. We are a much more educated and informed society than back when unions were formed. They don’t do anything except take money from their members while never really looking after all their interests.

Unions are typically such sticklers about contracts and “rights” and what is owed to them that they hold the company hostage. Continue reading →

The pot calling the kettle black-UPDATED

Image courtesy of www.bigstockphoto.com

That was the saying I grew up with when one person or group accused another of something that the original party was known to be guilty of.

Afghan investigators accused the American military Saturday of abusing detainees at its main prison in the country, bolstering calls by President Hamid Karzai for the U.S. to turn over control of the facility and complicating talks about America’s future role in Afghanistan.

The investigators also called for any detainee held without evidence to be freed, putting the U.S. and Afghan governments on a collision course in an issue that will decide the fate of hundreds of suspected Taliban and al-Qaida operatives captured by American forces and held indefinitely.

I read this over the weekend and was floored. I could not believe that anyone in the Afghan Government could honestly make this kind of accusation with a straight face. This is a country that essentially has no military justice system so they lock up their soldiers for infractions in the same place that they lock up detainees, in a Conex container. A standard shipping container with no power, toilet, heat, etc. Yes when a commander wants to punish a soldier or group of soldiers they lock them up in there for hours to days at a time.

If they capture enemy on the battlefield and they can’t easily get them back for interrogation the Afghan Army (and I assume some of the police) lock them up in the same type of location.

Karzai took Washington by surprise Thursday when he ordered that the U.S. military turn over full control of the prison outside Bagram Air Base within one month, a seemingly impossible deadline given U.S. security concerns about the prisoners and the Afghan government’s weak administrative capacity. The countries had been working on phasing a transfer of responsibility of the prison, which hold 3,000 detainees, over two years.

Not only do they lock them up in conex container, among other places but they also abuse them worse then I have ever heard about in this country. This is abuse I have seen first-hand. Continue reading →

War for Oil

After reading the story below I kinda wish our country would have went to war for oil like so many finatic and un-educated ultra-lefties accused us of doing.

The U.S. has spent a decade, $500 billion and 1,863 lives trying to square away Afghanistan. Yet China – which has done nothing in the past 10 years to bring stability to that troubled land – has just become the first foreign country to ink a pact with the Afghan government to try to tap into its oil and gas reserves. It could be worth billions.

Not sure the notion of the U.S. making the world safe for U.S. oil drilling makes sense, or is wise politically. But there is something unsettling about the world’s most populous nation sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the IED-triggered dust to settle, then swooping in to stake its claim on soil soaked in American blood.

Read more: battleland.blogs.time.com/2011/12/30/u-s-blood-for-chinese-oil/#ixzz1iQtFLPtC

I mean at least we would have benefited as a country from it. To think that the Chinese of all the people in the world are now going to swoop in and start exploiting the resources of Afghanistan for profit, is a tad upsetting. Yes it could be good for the country to have income from something besides our handouts, but that is assuming Afghanistan as a whole will benefit from it and not a select few corrupt politicians. Corruption is so bad in Afghanistan I am not sure a venture like this can get around it.

I realize that the goal is for Afghanistan to stand on their own, generate their own revienue, and survive as a functioning government and country. However to ink deals like this with a country that did nothing to help while our sons and daughters continue to bleed out and lose limbs on the same soil which may have a Chinese oil rig on it soon isn’t right. I mean even if the Brits, Aussies, Italians or heck even the Germans had first dibs because they helped liberate the country, that would be better than China.