Colin Powell, 1937-2021: R.I.P.

Story.

Powell was a moderate Republican during George W. Bush's term of office, which we see now was purely pandering, because after Bush left office Powell, more often than not, sided with the Left/Democrats, and was an Obama supporter/voter. By the time Trump was elected, Powell was one of those "conservatives" that the MSM would trot out to bash Republicans, and was a faithful dog at doing this. Totally a creature of the Deep State.

Trump Reverses Obama Policy, Will Forbid Transgenders In the Military

Story.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Military "will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity," citing the "tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender[s] in the military would entail." The decision reverses the "pro-transgender" policy implemented by President Obama in his final year in office.

"​After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military," Trump wrote in a series of tweets. "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you."

The antics of transgender intelligence leaker Bradley "Chelsea" Manning probably had a lot to do with this decision, Manning being the direct cause of both medical costs and disruption of the type that the President mentioned in his tweets.

Bergdahl Charged With Misbehavior Before the Enemy

A charge not often seen in modern times, it was common during WWII:

RALEIGH, N.C. — Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan.

Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case.

"I've never seen it charged," Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army's top lawyer, said of the misbehavior charge. "It's not something you find in common everyday practice in the military."

Bergdahl could face a life sentence if convicted of the charge, which accuses him of endangering fellow soldiers when he "left without authority; and wrongfully caused search and recovery operations."

Here's the pertinent article under the UCMJ:

899. ART. 99. MISBEHAVIOR BEFORE THE ENEMY

Any person subject to this chapter who before or in the presence of the enemy--

(1) runs away;

(2) shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;

(3) through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;

(4) casts away his arms or ammunition;

(5) is guilty of cowardly conduct; (6) quits his place of duty to plunder or pillage;

(7) causes false alarms in any command, unit, or place under control of the armed forces;

(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or

(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle;

shall be punished by death or such punishment as a court- martial may direct.

So it's a serious charge, fully as serious as desertion, and a signal that the Army wants to send a signal to other narcissists that aren't serious about their duty.

How To Arm Military Recruiters

When I was in the Navy and serving on ships, the in-port quarterdeck was where all access to the ship occurred. When a visitor crossed the brow (gangplank, civilians call it), (s)he was confronted with at least one armed sailor whose job was to prevent intruders from gaining access to the ship. This sailor openly wore a pistol on a web belt, and during the hours he was on duty the gun remained belted around his waist. Remarkably, no accidental discharges occurred (/sarc). It would be quite easy to designate an NCO at each military recruiting office to be officially armed, prepared to deal with situations such as the shootings in Chattanooga. Such an NCO would hand the gun off to another NCO when going to lunch, and take it back upon return. At the end of the working day the gun could be locked in an on-premises safe, or taken home by the NCO in charge of it.

Problem solved.

Will Military Personnel Defy Gun Control Orders That Endanger Their Lives?

Since the attack at the Chattanooga recruiting station by a fucking muslim I have been pondering if, or when, military personnel will become so disgusted with being targeted while disarmed that they begin defying their orders and carrying guns unlawfully. The penalty for doing so is a court-martial and loss of career, so there is a natural disinclination to make an example of oneself. But what if these attacks continue, will potential danger to life outweigh career considerations?

It could work out a couple of different ways, I think: one is by passive defiance, i.e., service members begin carrying concealed secretly, hoping both not to be caught and not to be put in a position of having to use the gun for defense of self and comrades, but accepting the consequences if they occur.

The other approach is active defiance, i.e., openly carrying sidearms and forcing military authorities to respond via arrest and court-martial. For this tactic to be effective it would have to wide-spread, which would bring charges of collusion and possibly even mutiny, but it has the advantage of forcing the military and civilian authorities to address the issue sooner.

What say you, readers?

Graffiti Left On Transport Ship Tells a Vietnam Tale

Drawn on canvas racks - - bunks - - that soldiers and Marines travelling to Vietnam slept on.

Obama Administration To Use Contractors In Iraq?

"In place of 'boots on the ground,' US seeks contractors for Iraq."

Let's get this straight: they're still boots on the ground - - mercenary boots.

So we're to have two separate armies in the US now? One a low-paid army of suckers patriots, the other a high-paid army of mercenaries? Basically you'll spend a term in the Army of Suckers Patriots before taking a discharge and joining the Army of Mercenaries?

h/t This Ain't Hell.

Well, They "Tried."

Tried to rescue Foley before he was beheaded, that is.

U.S. special operations forces early this summer launched a secret, major rescue operation in Syria to save James Foley and a number of Americans held by the extremist group ISIS, but the mission failed because the hostages weren’t there, senior administration officials told ABC News today.

President Obama authorized the “substantial and complex” rescue operation after the officials said a “broad collection of intelligence” led the U.S. to believe the hostages were being held in a specific location in the embattled Middle Eastern nation.

When “several dozen” U.S. special operation members landed in Syria, however, they were met with gunfire and “while on site, it became apparent the hostages were not there,” one of the officials said. The special operators engaged in a firefight in which ISIS suffered “a good number” casualties, the official said, while the American forces suffered only a single minor injury.

The American forces were able to get back on helicopters and escape.

Gee, why does this failed rescue attempt seem so familiar?

At least they tried.

What? Master Yoda has something to say?

Try is for Democrats. Do is for Republicans.

Hope He's Not Holding His Breath For a Medal

Sounds like "unnamed sources" don't think Bowe Bergdahl is such a hero, after all.

When Military Officers Go Insane...

...occasionally it goes undetected. Not so in the case of UK Army Major General James Cowan, who feels that sandwiches are a threat to good order and discipline:

Sandwiches have been banned from an officers’ base after a commander noticed many were eating them with their hands as he insisted “a gentleman or a lady uses a knife and fork.”

Major General James Cowan issued the note after he noticed officers were eating with their hands and failing to stand when commanders entered the room.

His three-page letter criticised standards at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire where he said he had seen a many “frankly barbaric” techniques and habits displayed by soldiers and officers.

The note, addressed to ‘Chaps’, said: “Quite a few officers in the divisional mess seem to be under the impression that they can eat their food with their hands. The practice of serving rolls and sandwiches must stop,” the Sun reported.

The letter penned by Maj Gen Cowan, who is in charge of 20,000 soldiers and 2,500 officers in 3 UK Division, most based at Bulford, also criticised poor grammar and writing, advising against the "wanton use of capitals, abbreviations and acronyms" because they can leave the reader exhausted.

Frankly I'm not convinced this isn't satire, and wasn't posted by the Telegraph by mistake. It reads just like a Monty Python sketch:

Listen Up, Chaps: There's been too much eating of sandwiches! Stop that, it's silly! And the wanton use of of capitals, abbreviations and acronyms must stop! It's silly!

It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady...Um...Farts

Or shits herself, due to a botched episiotomy during childbirth.

There's No Holiday That a Liberal Isn't Willing To Condemn

In Binghamton, New York, a liberal Catholic pastor isn't willing to participate in a collection that honors military service, saying that it represents an increase in "militarism in our culture."

Meanwhile, in UK, an equally liberal Anglican vicar is condemning one of Britain's most beloved hymns as a paean to nationalism.

Folks, there isn't a holiday in the US calendar that a liberal won't condemn for one reason or another, save perhaps Labor Day, which holds special meaning for their little Red hearts. Christmas? Too commercial, not inclusive enough, endangers the sacred Wall of Separation between church and state. Thanksgiving? A celebration of our exploitation of Native Americans. Columbus Day, likewise. Easter? Christian (makes spitting noise). Memorial Day and Veteran's Day? Glorify war. Independence Day? Patriotism is for retards. Presidents' Day? Slaveholders and racists.

Here's the hymn that the vicar condemns:



The music is by British composer Gustav Holst, and is a reworking of the Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity theme from The Planets:

When the Air Force Nearly Nuked NC

Back in 1961:

A doomed Air Force B-52 accidentally dropped two hydrogen bombs on North Carolina in January 1961, and one came perilously close to exploding and scattering deadly radioactive fallout over the Eastern Seaboard, according to a recently declassified report.

The 4-megaton Mark 39 bombs -- each packing 260 times the explosive power of the weapon that decimated Hiroshima -- broke loose over Goldsboro, N.C., as the bomber went into a tailspin and crashed.

All four safety mechanisms designed to prevent accidental detonation worked properly on one bomb, which landed in a meadow, but three failed on the other, and only a low-voltage switch kept it from exploding upon impact in a field in Faro, N.C., said the 1969 report.

Clean-Up In Aisle Three, Please

The God-King went off TelePrompTer again.

In an effort to stop military lawyers from using comments by President Obama to prevent sexual assault prosecutions, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has sent out a directive ordering the military to exercise independent judgment in the cases and effectively ignore the president’s remarks.

“There are no expected or required dispositions, outcomes or sentences in any military justice case, other than what result from the individual facts and merits of a case and the application to the case of the fundamentals of due process of law,” Mr. Hagel wrote in a memorandum dated Aug. 6 that is to be disseminated throughout the military.

Since May, when Mr. Obama said at the White House that sexual offenders in the military ought to be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged,” lawyers in dozens of assault cases have argued that Mr. Obama’s words as commander in chief amounted to “unlawful command influence,” tainting trials and creating unfair circumstances for clients as a result.

Their motions have had some success. At Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina in June, a judge dismissed charges of sexual assault against an Army officer, noting the command influence issue. In Hawaii, a Navy judge ruled last month that two defendants in sexual assault cases, if found guilty, could not be punitively discharged because of Mr. Obama’s remarks.

Life-Saving Abdominal Tourniquet

In a technology breakthrough, a new tourniquet that wraps around the abdomen and then, via inflation similar to a blood-pressure cuff, cuts off aortic blood flow to the lower body, has already saved at least two lives and has drawn orders from the US Army.


h/t Brock Townsend at Free North Carolina.

Tintypes In Afghanistan

An old photographic process makes a comeback.

Sample tintype:

Click the link to read the story and see more of the tintypes.

Poll of the Day

We'll base it on this story: Should there be a federal law allowing veterans to render military-style salutes when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or when the National Anthem is played at sporting events?

Should There Be a Law That Veterans Not In Uniform May Render Hand Salutes?
	Yes, there oughta be a law!
	No, it's a stupid idea.
	Dont' we have more important stuff to legislate?
pollcode.com free polls

My own opinion is that we don't need such a law. Further, I think that for simplicity's sake, that if you are wearing civilian clothing you should render the standard hand-on-heart salute. We already have enough problems with phony military "heroes" without giving wannabes and fakers yet another way to disrespect our service.

Military Rations - - The North Carolina Connection

Researchers at NC State University in Raleigh work with the military to craft food rations that are healthier choices for the troops - - but are also tasty enough that they won't be rejected.

Soldiers aren’t the only ones who stand to gain from easier access to phytochemicals, Lila said. Athletes, outdoor enthusiasts and people trying to control their weight could also benefit.

In a recent clinical trial, student subjects from Appalachian State University were asked to consume a drink containing blueberry and green tea phytochemical extracts for 17 days. During the final three days of the project, they worked out intensely for 2.5 hours each day.

“We found that those who had been given a placebo returned to their normal metabolism shortly after the exercise sessions,” Lila said. “But those given the phytochemicals were still burning fat in their sleep.”

Over At This Ain't Hell...

an apology like no other you're likely to read.

Why Is the Pentagon...

...blocking access by military personnel to the Southern Baptist Convention website?

As first reported by Fox News’ Todd Starnes, Pentagon leaders have blocked soldiers’ access to the website of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States with 16 million members, making it the second-largest religious denomination is the entire country after Roman Catholicism.

The SBC is also the largest evangelical Christian denomination in the world.

Starnes reports, “An Air Force officer told Fox News that when he tried to log on to the website he received a message that his Internet usage was being logged and monitored for trying to access a blocked site.” An Army officer was likewise denied access, with the message, “The site you have requested has been blocked... due to hostile content.”

This example of possible censorship of religious beliefs comes on the heels of an Army officer’s email, previously reported by Breitbart News, warning soldiers to keep a watchful eye on devout Christians. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was recently pressed about the email by Rep. Randy Forbes but provided no answers.