The bottom line is our combat zones have way to many lawyers on them and not enough trigger-pullers.

A paratrooper is facing trial for punching an escaping Taliban member.

The case, which is estimated to cost the taxpayer 250,000 pounds, is continuing even though there are no formal witnesses.

British military prosecutors admit that the captive, Ahmed Wali, has provided ‘unreliable’ evidence, The Daily Mail reports.

But the Service Prosecuting Authority has refused to drop the case and charged CplC with the assault. He is due to appear at a court martial later this month.

His legal team had moved the high court for seeking a judicial review of the decision to prosecute him.

His name is being kept secret because he served alongside special forces.

Cpl C was a qualified tactical questioner when the incident occurred in March 2010.

He admitted that he punched Wali when insurgents were firing at the compound and laying down IEDs.

Cpl C’s friends criticised the decision to prosecute him as ‘absurd’.

“He is a young British paratrooper who has risked his life and was doing his duty. There is no other point of this prosecution than political correctness. He should be seen as a hero, not facing the prospect of his good name being left in tatters,” his friend said.(ANI)

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Taliban militants, who have shunned violence, are being provided monthly cash incentive of £100, besides being given amnesty for all crimes such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women.

“Members of the Taliban who give up their fight are being paid £100 a month and will be allowed to keep their guns in a new initiative to end the insurgency,” the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Paying the Taliban not to fight is like giving a rapist free hookers so he doesn’t rape innocent women. Sure it will accomplish what you want in the short term, but over time it will become too expensive and you make them dependent on you.

Once we cut off the payments then they will go back to doing what they have to in order to survive, which means attacking us or the Government of Afghanistan. You cannot buy your way out of a problem like this.

The move, which has the full support of NATO, is part of the “reintegration” programme and is intended to keep militants from attacking troops from the International Stabilisation and Assistance Force (ISAF).

“Those who have attacked and killed British forces are also effectively given an amnesty, which means they will never be put on trial,” the paper said.

Maj Gen David Hook, the director of the Joint Force Integration Cell in Kabul, told the paper the programme would be difficult for many British families to accept but insisted that reintegration was vital if peace was to be achieved.

The amnesty extends to all Taliban militants, including those who have taken part in atrocities, such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women, it said.

The agreement is part of a policy signed by the British Government in which insurgents are being allowed to “walk off the battlefield” and enter a “reintegration” scheme, it said.

The paper said Taliban joining the programme are not interrogated but instead are asked to complete a questionnaire explaining their reasons for joining the insurgency.

More than 2,700 insurgents have been reintegrated into mainstream Afghan society since October 2010, with 800 now described as “showing interest in leaving the Taliban”.

Of those, about 90 are from Helmand, where nearly 400 British troops have been killed and more than 5,000 injured.

This will never work for the long haul. In fact I am sure many Taliban would simply collect the money each month and still attack troops. What is their motivation not to?

There is an old saying in Afghanistan that says “you can’t buy and Afghan, but you can rent one”. We can’t buy their loyalty or allegiance, it is impossible with the resources at hand. This is just the most stupid-ass thing I have ever heard of. It is bound to waste thousands or millions of dollars and end up achieving nothing except maybe a temporary reprieve.

Someone needs to find the idiots in ISAF and NATO who came up with this hair-brained idea and bounce them out of the building before they do any more damage.

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It is that media and the fear of lawsuits, the ACLU, and the worry of “offending” someone that leads to something like this happening. This apartment complex should be utterly ashamed of themselves.  

Edward Zivica, a 70-year-old who served in the Navy in the 1960s, faces a hard choice come Veterans Day next week: He can obey the rules and remain in his apartment complex, or he can follow his tradition of hanging the American flag outside his place.

The managers at his subsidized housing project here have given him notice he’ll be evicted if he again violates the rules against putting anything on the exterior walls.

That notice came after the flag went up Oct. 27 for Navy Day, one of several that Zivica marks by hanging it outside the community room near the main entrance. He’d gotten a letter from the management in June telling him to quit.

Read the whole story at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/11/ap-navy-veteran-could-be-evicted-hanging-flag-110311/#mce_temp_url#

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Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the ranking Democratic member on the House Financial Services Committee, is blaming military spending for the recent S&P move to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. Unlike some DoD officials, Rep. Frank is not blaming the cost of military pay and compensation, but his issue is with the amount of money spent on being “the military policemen of the world.” According to Frank, the credit reversal could change our thinking and the influence the military has in politics. Additionally, the military is a logical target for spending cuts and $200 billion could be saved by reducing the U.S. military presence in the world. To read the full article, go to: militaryadvantage.military.com/2011/08/military-spending-to-blame-for-credit-rating-hit/

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Homes for Our Troops has now been told that it must begin anew the entire approval process and that the house needs to be at least 3400 square feet and multi-level to even be considered.

“Shockingly, it appears that the Knob Hill community has decided it does not want to welcome SFC Gittens and his family, as we were previously told,”…

Please take a moment and go read this:

www.blackfive.net/main/2011/06/just-not-good-enough-for-their-neighborhood.html

and then do whatever your heart or guy tells you to do. 

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Troops in Afghanistan may have to wait 10 to 12 months for advanced medical machinery for treating concussions, raising concerns among top military leaders that the equipment will not be available for potentially hundreds of sevice members with mild brain injuries.

I read this story the other day and I was amazed that some of the top Service and Combat Commanders are asking for this common medical technology but some doctors in the services are disputing the effectiveness of these technologies,

Army surgeon-general Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said that although an MRI is a helpful tool in battlefield care, it is not essential for diagnosis.

The Navy surgeon-general, Vice Adm. Adam Robinson, echoed the view that an MRI is primarily a research tool.

Rather than saying “no” and saying they don’t agree with the top Commanders, these medical professionals need to be presenting their cases to the Commanders and either showing they are right and the Commanders are wrong or they need to have their minds changed and support the Commanders’ request.

Without an urgent demand, the two machines for $9 million must be acquired through competitive bidding, the Navy says. They will not reach Afghanistan until August at the earliest, Robinson says.

More than 300 U.S. troops per month suffered concussions last year in Afghanistan. Mullen’s science adviser, Army Col. Christian Macedonia, said if purchased outright, without competitive bidding, MRI machines could go to the war zone in a period of weeks.

So because of acquisition rules and policies about the urgent need of these the MRI machines will take months to go forward and be used rather than weeks which is how fast it could be done.

I bet if some of our Representatives in Congress starting applying some pressure or if the mainstream media started talking about this then those machines would be on the next plane heading east. But until then, I guess it will fall on Army Times and MilBlogs to get the word out.

Read the whole story at www.armytimes.com/news/2011/04/gannett-no-mris-in-afghanistan-041511/

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This video not only makes me sick, but it also pisses me off. I can’t imagine what it does to the friends, comrades and familes of those 100+ killed in this valley. 

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he has stayed out of the contentious budget negotiations in Washington, even as he expressed disappointment at the potential government shutdown and the possibility that troops would miss paychecks.

“I have not been at all involved in the budget negotiations, and I obviously defer to the president,” he said Friday.

Oh, ok…wait, WHAT?
Isn’t the SecDef the primary and top leader representing the military and all of its members? Shouldn’t he be the primary advocate and spokesperson for the troops under his command? Shouldn’t he be the one lobbying and pressuring Congress to pass a bill that would keep troops getting paid? 

In the book “Obama’s Wars” the SecDef was painted as a “yes” man and a guy that likes to avoid conflict and would not choose sides until the very end when it was clear who would win. He would side with them. 

I think his recent statements validate that image of him in the book by Bob Woodruff. 

Read www.stripes.com/news/2011-budget-battle/gates-says-he-s-steered-clear-of-budget-talks-1.140486 to get the whole story. 

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I told her I didn’t think I was required to take a driving test since it was renewal and asked I had to take it because I have PTSD. She said yes and that I would also have to retake the driving test for both car and motorcycle.

Take a second and read CJ’s whole story at;

floppingaces.net/2011/03/24/a-step-back-for-troops-with-ptsd/

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Below is a letter just released by Mr. Snyder’s attorney, Mr. Craig Trebilcock in reponse to the Supreme Court ruling.

This has not been released anywhere else, and is exclusive to Bouhammer.com

 
We’re disappointed in the ruling by the Supreme Court because it leaves grieving military families without meaningful recourse under the law when they are targeted for abuse by the Westboro Baptist Church. We fought the good fight to try to protect those who give their children to the nation and who pay the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf in defense of the nation. This phase of that effort has not ended successfully.

The court did not address the key issue in the case of whether the assaults upon the Snyder family through the internet can be a basis for liabiltiy. They have left that battle for another day. Accordingly, if the Westboro Baptist Church continues their internet based attacks on grieving military families I will look forward to that issue being fully litigated before the courts.

The court was faced with a very tough issue in this case of weghing the claimed First Amendment rights of the Phelps clan against the rights of the Snyder family to peacefully assemble and bid farewell to Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder without abuse and intimidation. The court sided with the Phelps clan and we must now accept that as the rule of law in the United States. It is my sincere hope in light of this decision that states will take the appropriate action through legislation to protect military families through strong time, place, manner laws that the court mentioned can be enacted, to keep these people away from destroying the sanctity of military funerals.

This family clan has used the laws that our troops fight to preserve in a perverse manner that inflicts hate and abuse upon those who are at their most vulnerable during the loss of a loved one. During this dark our it is important to remember that the opverwhelming majority of patriotic americans recognize and honor the sacrifice of our military personnel and their families. God bless our troops and their families.

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