Normally, I'm about attacking the message, not the messenger.

But, as I note, if you get stupid, I reserve the right to mock you mercilessly.

And publicly.

Someone doesn't like my site layout. Of course, there aren't really any ads here, per se, except some that are crediting people for work they've done or support they provide the site. '

But, apparently John Vickers, really doesn't care that much about the ads, I'm guessing he cares more, in a, ahem, negative fashion, about the content of the site.

At least that's what I infer from this polite, respectful email I got from him. Here is exactly how not to impress me with your intellect, wit, and rhetorical grandeur.

Hey, Stupid!

Change your homepage so one can read the articles without the bullsh*t ads. Just like stupid f*cking army guys. Do you need a f*cking comic book to understand how to do it d0uche bag, baby killer??

Cheers!

John

Dear John -

What ads?

There aren't any ads. There are some plugs for some organizations, and for people who have provided professional services to the site - but there isn't one, single, revenue-producing ad here.

And please, do send the comic book, but only if you can find something more inventive than this little display of potty-mouth.

Wanna compare grades and test scores? Maybe even salary?

However, If this is the best you bring to the game, don't waste your time, or mine. But I will give you credit for not dumping that trash in my comments.

Thank you for that. Feel free to never come back again. You aren't really the class of visitor I seek. Go to DU and hang with your buds.

Of course, I *am* assuming that the email is valid. If so, you sir, well, it's self evident what you are.

Snerk.

Cheers,

John

Update: Heh. He responded. Gotta give him credit - he's using a real email address.

No potty mouth this time - he's improving, and offering up a useful, if incomplete, observation.

Stupid, Didn’t want to waste my time. As far as grades and tests scores, are you talking about GED scores?? Bye now! Maybe you should check your web page again. It doesn’t display correctly

Well, since that was *almost civil* I responded, too.

I know it doesn't, a buried MT problem that MT and my part-time when he can get to it web monkey is trying to fix. And, yeah, it's probably something I broke, a genuine 1D10T error.

What browser are you using? Not everybody has that problem.

GED? You really don't know much about us baby killers, do you?

People paid me to go to college. And they paid for part of my grad degree. I had choices and prospects and I chose to do 20 years in the Army, and now I make quite a tidy living *plus* the pension, *plus* the disability. As Congressman Dennis Moore of Kansas notes, my share of the National Debt is 29K. Well, I paid my full share this year, and a bit more to cover part of your share, too.

Stupid people with no prospects should do more of that. They'd live in nicer houses.

But just what *is* the point of being such a jerk in an email?

Offer constructive criticism, fine. Potty mouth? What, my feelings were supposed to be hurt?

I was suddenly going to realize that my whole life was a sham?

Really, what *was* the point?

I'll give you this much, certainly - you used a real email address. Most people who drop by to for a drive-by poop-flinging don't.

Cheers,

John

And now, for a demonstration of Why I Have The Rulez - because in my email exchange with Mr. Vickers, I followed the Rulez. Which are back in force here, btw. I offiicially call off the dogs. Mr. Vickers responded to my last above:

I’m using IE7. And no, your feelings weren’t supposed to be hurt. I apologize for being an a$$ to you. It is just so disconcerting to see the bullshit going on in Iraq and Afghanistan . It makes me ashamed to have ever served in the military knowing that our troops are killing innocent people (‘collateral damage”) for no good reason. We could debate this issue, but what will be will be and it isn’t going to be a good outcome for the US . It is sad to see our “leaders” (a term used very loosely) not really give a shit about our troops and innocent lives wasted. It would be nice if their kids and family went to these places with weapons in their hands. It would be even better if the pieces of sh*t in Congress went themselves and fought for a month. This war would end real quickly. That would never happen because they are gutless turds. So the massacres continue. If only there were some enlightenment in this country.

Regards,

John

There's much to argue with, and a little that I can empathize with, but that would be a post for a different time.

The point of this post is... the Rulez. Why they're a good idea, and make this a calmer place. Which is why, among other things, readership is up, even if they are mostly lurkers.

As Marc Danziger, the Armed Liberal at Winds of Change remarked to me yesterday on the subject of "tone" in blogs - "When you walk into a party and there are people standing on the coffee table flinging dishes, yelling at each other, and other guests are egging them on... that draws a certain crowd. When you walk into a party and everybody has glass in hand and are chatting amiably and laughing and having a good time, that draws a different crowd."

We tried Animal House around here for a while. It didn't work. But I *don't* want the Stepford Wives blog-equivalent, either.

Milblogs Conference Feed and schedule.

The feed will go live when the conference starts. To get the live feed...

CLICK HERE.

The chat room, provided by Denizen Bloodspite and the boys and girls of Techography can be joined by...

CLICKING HERE.

Saturday, May 5, 2007: Conference (8:00 - 4:30)

You really really want to see the "Special Programming" if you can. Trust me on this.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States - the Conference Opening Speaker.

You have no idea how hard it's been to sit on that knowledge for two weeks...

Right now - we're talking via video chat with Admiral Fox from Baghdad.

About last night...

...we had the cocktail party as the official opening event. There was an unofficial opening event the night before, where we had a farewell party for Greyhawk, who had to be on an airplane going to Places In the East before dawn.

Last night it was people who's names I knew, but faces I didn't, all over the place. It interesting how ordinary most of us look. Oh, there are a few handsome fellas, and more good looking women than should be allowed - but for the most part, all those thundering voices of the 'net are pretty ordinary looking.

Not one that I know well from the 'net came even remotely close to the mental image I had (heh, take comic book superhero body, stick on handsome/beautiful face, etc).

Of the Denizens, Fuzzybear Lioness was there, proudly clutching her shiny new Milbloggie, of course, along with Princess Crabby, AFSis, and AF1 Tim, the Denizen-formerly-known-as-Gwedd.

There was a different buzz at this meeting, though the OPSEC regs did not dominate conversation - well, except perhaps when Matt and Noah had to slip out to talk to the BBC, who are suddenly very interested in if our milblogger feelings have been hurt or not...

Noonan did an *excellent* job of emceeing the Milbloggie awards, much as it pains me to pat a Lieutenant on the back - their heads swell when you do that, and Noonan's noggin needs no encouraging, trust me.

I met with the estimable Lex, Murdoc, Eagle1, Slab, and the previously mentioned Noah to discuss the panel. If Captain Deiss, our handler from CENTCOM was present, I missed him.

I had a chance to talk to John Pike from Globalsecurity.org, a website I'm continually mining for information (John observed it's the most-plagiarized-by-the-US-military site on the web). Interesting chat - the guys at GlobalStrat are going to start a blog - I may apply for posting privileges.

We were flooded with Soldiers Angels, well-wishers, there were some official types who'd snuck in trying to network with bloggers even though their bosses were clueless on the utility.

I think the most fun thing about it was - how, for many of us, blogging has widened our scope and given us opportunities we'd never have had before - opportunities to Do Things, but we're all doing it in our spare time, well, most of us, anyway. I got asked to do Fox News this Sunday, but couldn't work around the schedule of other things, like giving out the 1000th Laptop by Project Valour-IT. I've had a serious chat with my Represenative in Congress, from which there has been a material impact - Congress now knows about Project Valour-IT and we're going to pull some leverage - not angling for money from the Federal treasury (though we'd be Delighted if the VA would take the hint) but mostly for the official gravitas that having bi-partisan Congressional acknowledgement of our efforts and the impact that can have on scoring major donors to get Valour-IT endowed.

It's gonna be fun - but I gotta get going. The conference will be starting soon!

H&I* Fires, 04 MAY 2007

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...
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Kent’s Imperative has a post about different methods of analysis and decision making. I continually find this site an interesting read.
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This is just laughable. So, you’re teacher hanging in the hall is harassment too, then? Jeez. I get kids not liking the military or wanting to hear the recruiters rap, but this is just laughable.

“Why should all that money be spent on recruiting people to the military?" said Philip Locker, a student. "Why can't we spend that money on creating good paying jobs for people here in the United States, so when they graduate they can get jobs that serve our communities?"

Anyone else see the disconnect between the kids statement and his act?
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Columbia Journalism School also doesn’t like the new rules about media relations. I’m not as sympathetic to their reasons for being miffed as I am for deployed bloggers though.

I will say this: when journos AND the military mutually stop treating each other with major, irrational suspicion and rancor this kind of nonsense will no longer happen.
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Tossing some Alan bait: baseball standings. (Told you it was too early to complain about the BoSox after two games. We won’t talk about the Cubs.)
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An examination of how transnational terrorists are abusing a system designed to help third world countries with capital movement. Human creativity seems to outstrip rules making and regulation.
--ry

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Bob Owens, of Confederate Yankee, helps Representative Murtha with the Honorable Gentleman from Pennsylvania's memory problems...

Moving along, Canadians take their hockey seriously. Really seriously. In related news, the Canadian Army recently got its a$$ handed to it on the field of battle. Fortunately, it was by other Canadians.

In case you missed it - Berbers point out that Arabs are colonialists, too. And arguably worse that the Europeans.

Belkacem Lounes, president of the World Amazigh Congress, wrote an open letter to Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qaddafi in response to the latter's March 1 speech in which he denied the existence of a Berber or Amazigh(1) people in North Africa. In his letter, dated April 10, Lounes protested Qaddafi's statements, saying that the 30 million Amazigh living today in North Africa cannot be ignored. He added that the Amazigh had played a central role in the fight against European colonialism, but that since independence they had been oppressed by the "internal colonialism" of pan-Arabism, which he labels an imperialist ideology. Lounes stated that it was archaic to consider diversity a danger, and calls on the North African governments to commit to democracy and human rights.

More here, from Memri.

We're outta here to hit the Smithsonian. -the Armorer

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Okay, I lied, we're not there yet. But this is a kewl milestone to pass on the opening day of the Milblogger Conference. Probably sometime late this afternoon - the Castle will host it's 2 millionth visitor since lowering the drawbridge and raising the barbican in 2003. It wasn't that long ago when number 1,000,000 dropped by, sent to us by Neptunus Lex. May the Fourth Be With You! -the Armorer

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Ping! 2 Million. Whee! If I hadda nickel for each of those visits... I'd have enough to buy a *really* nice truck, and what the heck, a trailer to go with it! -the Armorer

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I'm still alive...

If you know what

"R
I
P
FPlan
Plan
M
S
I"

means, you'll have a clue as to what I'm up to. In fact, if you can guess what the above is, John will send you an autographed picture of the dead Dole Center chair.

Or not. -Instapilot

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Quote Of the Day.

"He’ll be back in a V8 once the estrogen wears off." -Instapilot

H/T: Mr. Blair (No, not THAT one. This one.)

Bring out your Dead!

Not so that we may mock them per Monty Python's ski, but that we may honor and respect them.

"People tell me to just let the bones sleep in the woods," said Kowalke, a member of the German War Graves Assn. who has been searching for skeletons for 43 years. "But I say to them that no matter what this generation did, without them you wouldn't be here.

"In these bones you see what war is like. I know war now. I'll tell you what it is. War is young men killing other young men they do not know on the orders of old men who know one another too well."

Good on you, Herr Kowalke.

The people who tell Her Kowalke to stop are simply channeling the shade of Carl Sandburg, albeit incompletely:

GRASS

by: Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

PILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,
Shovel them under and let me work--
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.

Indeed, after we know who they are, if we may. Sandburg here, Voltaire below. Must be my "Humanities" day. H/t, Randy K.

The New OPSEC regulation.

I'll start with my BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front):

My senior PAO buddy provided for me that which is the "quotation of the rotation."

The funniest quote I've seen so far is some specialist in today's Stars/Stripes who basically said, if the Army plans on enforcing this like they enforce height and weight standards, then I'm not that worried.

It's problematic to discuss the regulation in detail, as the regulation itself is classified FOUO, and I hold a clearance, so I'm covered by that FOUO marking. This is true even though it's out there in the wild, since it was forwarded to me by a journalist. I told him, that as someone with a security clearance, regretfully I would be unable to return his .pdf and would have to drop it off at my local classified digi-shredder.

There's been lots of bloviating on the subject. For a good one-stop shop on the subject, go visit Noah Schachtman at his Wired blog, Danger Room. Of particular interest would be these bits:

First, a discussion (including your's truly) on the initial release is here.
To read Noah's interview of the author of the reg, Major Ray Ceralde, go here.

Here's my take, and in keeping with my muddle-of-the-road squishiness, I don't think the sky is falling. It will only be tiles of the sky falling, in those areas governed by weak commanders, who will default to requiring approval for everything because they are timid and risk-averse, or worse, the ones who see any post as a threat - mostly because they, themselves, might be the subject of unflattering commentary. Of course, they will then end up banning everything because they won't be able to keep up with the flow. No one could.

Most Commanders will try to find a happy medium, and as long as the troops are making a good honest effort to comply with the perfectly legitimate requirements of OPSEC, they will make a good honest effort to keep the Heavy Hand of Censorship and the UCMJ laying dormant in the desk drawer.

*That* said... I feel sorry for Major Ceralde, as he finds himself in the middle of this and tries to spin his way through things that the simple wording of the regulation contradict.

I'm with Army Lawyer on this, and I think that Noah was a little surprised by my take that this wasn't as bad as many people think - although the devil is in the details.

My response has been more along the lines of... the Army shot itself in the foot, needlessly, and... because the Army *still* does not understand the Internet and the revolution in communications therein represented and facilitated. Sadly, our enemy understands it much better than we do.

When the reg was staffed, either Big Army PAO was not included, or they were asleep at the switch. I don't know which is true - but I do know a "senior Army PAO official" the guy who provided the opening quote for this post.

My initial perspective is that this

1-couldn't have come at a worse time, right before the milbloggers conference. In particular, I'm afraid that our young CENTCOM Cpt gets his a$$ kicked by an angry mob who doesn't fully appreciate that this guy is as blindsided as anyone.

This refers to Captain Tony Deiss, who will be on my panel tomorrow at the Milblogger Conference - keep in mind, everybody - CPT Deiss didn't write the reg, doesn't know much more about it than we do - and is CENTCOM's rep, not Big Army's.

2- [This] isn't something we going to enforce proactively, we don't have the time or resources, so we're going to rely on punishing one or two people as an example to reach our real goal...a "chilling effect" on others.

I agree, completely. We'll be very French, ala Voltaire in Candide "Dans ce pay-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres. "In this country it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others." Heh. Betcha weren't expecting Voltaire to rear his head this morning, were ya? Ain't a classic education grand?

3-We seem to forget that we have punished people already for violating OSPEC and made changes (see CB's comments on water and ammo and the results thereof).

Exactly.

4-it's like asking for extra gun control...when laws against murder won't stop killers, what makes us think that laws against guns will? Well, the real goal is an unarmed populace...the same thing seems to be going on here. It would "just be easier if those damn bloggers would stop altoghether."

The gun-controller's answer to that question is "But it will make people feel safer. Not a great basis for policy, but a powerful incentive, nontheless, and actually a key component of British efforts at gun control. But that's a different post for a different time.

The Army has scrambled and put out an official response:

Fact Sheet Army Operations Security: Soldier Blogging Unchanged

Summary:
o America’s Army respects every Soldier’s First Amendment rights while also adhering to Operations Security (OPSEC) considerations to ensure their safety on the battlefield.
o Soldiers and Army family members agree that safety of our Soldiers are of utmost importance.
o Soldiers, Civilians, contractors and Family Members all play an integral role in maintaining Operations Security, just as in previous wars.

That's unobjectionable

Details: • In no way will every blog post/update a Soldier makes on his or her blog need to be monitored or first approved by an immediate supervisor and Operations Security (OPSEC) officer. After receiving guidance and awareness training from the appointed OPSEC officer, that Soldier blogger is entrusted to practice OPSEC when posting in a public forum.

I've made this point before in discussions of the subject - the key here is the commander and how he or she defines their Essential Elements of Friendly Information, which define those topics that relate to OPSEC. The fact remains, however, that the reg allows a commander the default position of any item posted to a public forum.

In other words - Blackhawk or MajMike wants to post a comment on this blog. Technically, under the reg, the commander has the ability to require they submit it for approval. In practice, not practical, and if the EEFI has been defined properly, sufficient guidance will have been provided that will allow both of those soldiers to screen their post themselves - which I believe is the *intent* of the regulation.

• Army Regulation 350-1, “Operations Security,” was updated April 17, 2007 – but the wording and policies on blogging remain the same from the July 2005 guidance first put out by the U.S. Army in Iraq for battlefield blogging. Since not every post/update in a public forum can be monitored, this regulation places trust in the Soldier, Civilian Employee, Family Member and contractor that they will use proper judgment to ensure OPSEC.

o Much of the information contained in the 2007 version of AR 530-1 already was included in the 2005 version of AR 530-1. For example, Soldiers have been required since 2005 to report to their immediate supervisor and OPSEC officer about their wishes to publish military-related content in public forums.

o Army Regulation 530-1 simply lays out measures to help ensure operations security issues are not published in public forums (i.e., blogs) by Army personnel.

• Soldiers do not have to seek permission from a supervisor to send personal E-mails. Personal E-mails are considered private communication. However, AR 530-1 does mention if someone later posts an E-mail in a public forum containing information sensitive to OPSEC considerations, an issue may then arise.

• Soldiers may also have a blog without needing to consult with their immediate supervisor and OPSEC officer if the following conditions are met:
1. The blog’s topic is not military-related (i.e., Sgt. Doe publishes a blog about his favorite basketball team).
2. The Soldier doesn’t represent or act on behalf of the Army in any way.
3. The Soldier doesn’t use government equipment when on his or her personal blog.

I would note that last three bullets apply to me by my employer. Just substitute my company's name for Army/Government and that reads like our corporate policy.

• Army Family Members are not mandated by commanders to practice OPSEC. Commanders cannot order military Family Members to adhere to OPSEC. AR 530-1 simply says Family Members need to be aware of OPSEC to help safeguard potentially critical and sensitive information. This helps to ensure Soldiers’ safety, technologies and present and future operations will not be compromised.

Nor did the reg read like it did require commanders to try to exercise that non-existent authority - but it did push commanders to make sure that family members were included in the understanding of what OPSEC was and why it was important, and if you've read some milspouse blogs... well, you understand 1st IO's concerns in that regard. This has been a touchy issue for decades - like I said to Noah, though I was talking about soldier-to-soldier conversation - the change is that we used to have these discussions with each other sitting at the bar in the O'club. Then the Army killed the club system by killing their alcohol sales... and the commentary went to the bars downtown and now, on the Internet. And because the discussion is on the Internet, it's now a conversation being held to a world-wide audience, which is the problem underlying the regulation.

• Just as in 2005 and 2006, a Soldier should inform his or her OPSEC officer and immediate supervisor when establishing a blog for two primary reasons: 1. To provide the command situational awareness. 2. To allow the OPSEC officer an opportunity to explain to the Soldier matters to be aware of when posting military-related content in a public, global forum.

• A Soldier who already has a military-related blog that has not yet consulted with his or her immediate supervisor and OPSEC officer should do so.

• Commands have the authority to enact local regulations in addition to what AR 530-1 stipulates on this topic.

The deer in the headlights look of the Army PAO and poor ol' Major Ceralde simply support my contention that the Army, unlike our enemies in the Long War, still just doesn't get the Internet. I commend to them the CENTCOM PAO, who has been working to find a good modus vivendi.

Most commanders understand a key rule of leadership: Don't give orders you *know* won't be obeyed. Commanders who go medieval on their soldiers regarding this will simply shut down the supportive and thoughtful voices, and leave the battlefield to the angry and disenchanted. Exactly the opposite of what 1st Information Operations Command wants, if they are thinking strategically. As in this discussion from the Small Wars Council:

This sounds alot more like a Super FOB [Forward Operating Base] IO [Information Operations] strategy. We'll build these walls around us and communicate only on approved internal lines of communication with internal approval of approved internal discussions so that we can ensure we are discussing approved questions with approved solutions which we will then disseminate at approved CTC and publications. The latency will be huge! The timeliness of useful information which can be placed in the correct context so that it can be applied will be largely neutralized. But we will be safe.

OK - this may not have been the intent - but that may not matter if someone does not clarify the directive - remember perceptions are reality.

I'd argue that while the enemy is prosecuting a very effective IO campaign and use of the Internet, we are tightening the chastity belt for fear of misuse. There probably has been some screw ups - but how do you measure the subjective value vs. risk? We are a quantitative bunch at heart facing a foe who is willing to be subjective. Are we fighting the fight we have or wishing for the one we'd like? Is developing a real information warfare capability vs a better bank vault beyond us? I know people who sit on information for total fear they will be held accountable for its release - they are largely inn effective, but they are safe. They are not concerned about the mission any where near as much as they are self preservation and will often use it as an excuse for lethargic behavior.

While the risks must be known and mitigated / minimized, don't assume the enemy will operate under any restrictions. How much terrain does a defensive position control - only what it can see and reach - and these days that is very limited given that the key terrain is Human.

You can read the rest of that by clicking here. Blackfive holds forth here, and there's a bunch of stuff over at Milblogs.

Update: Entropic Memes is, ahem, not impressed by the PAO release. Nice bit of snark, fellas.

It’s not a policy statement. It’s not a clarification of orders for DA personnel. It’s, as the Brits might say, bumpf. Disingenious bumpf, at that, which is directly contradicted in no less than four places by the actual text of Army Regulations 530-1. It’s a PR stunt, and I think everyone so far recognizes it as such, because even the most gung-ho milblogs to print the text of the “fact sheet” so far have neglected to include the final bullet point, found on page two - “Commands have the authority to enact local regulations in addition to what AR 530-1 stipulates on this topic” (emphasis mine.)

I would note *this* gung-ho milblogger posted the final bullet point...

The VA bonuses.

To quote a famous blogger - heh.

From Business Week.

Months after a politically embarrassing $1 billion shortfall that put veterans' health care in peril, Veterans Affairs officials involved in the foul-up got hefty bonuses ranging up to $33,000.

The list of bonuses to senior career officials at the Veterans Affairs Department in 2006, obtained by The Associated Press, documents a generous package of more than $3.8 million in payments by a financially strapped agency straining to help care for thousands of injured veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon here in DC in the office of SWWBO and I's Representative, Nancy Boyda, (D, Kansas 2). We got two hours of Ms. Boyda and her staff's time - covering a wide rang of topics. Prior to our appointment, SWWBO and I were chatting with Shanan Guinn, Boyda's Chief of Staff, and Doug Matties, her Legislative Director. During that "getting to know you and what your pet rocks are" phase, the VA came up and Shanan and Doug passed me the AP article on the bonuses. Shanan commented that the VA had managed to reduce their backlog by three days, to which my response was... "I sure wish the people I worked with would give me 10K a day for weak performance like that."

Which isn't true - if they did, they'd run the company into the ground, giving out bonuses to business units that were under-performing *and* had budget issues.

I know, from talking to Ms. Boyda, that the Democratic Caucus raised it's collective eyebrows and will quite probably be digging into Secretary Nicholson's business. I would assume, from the spluttering tones of outrage filling my email inbox from my mostly staunchly conservative friends who are users of VA services, that the Republican Caucus would do well to raise their eyebrows as well.

One thing Ms. Boyda did in our give and take about the VA - she made a distinction between VA service delivery in her district (for which the feedback is pretty good, really, matching my personal experience) vice the administration side of things - especially as concerns claims processing, where the feedback is pretty negative, *also* mirroring my personal experience.

I told her the problem was chronic, bi-partisan, and actually generational in scope. My father's interaction with the VA was so negative when he retired from the Army in 1975 that even though he has service connected disabilities that have gotten worse, he simply refuses to even consider going back for a re-evaluation. Fortunately for him, his personal situation allows him that luxury - not so for the less well off veterans.

With a string of broken promises made by Congresses and Presidents going back to the Revolution, through the repudiation of wartime promises made during the Civil War, to Mac Arthur's routing of the "Bonus Army" through the chronic underfunding of PTSD and TBI treatment today - the VA carries the stain of a legacy of near-venal neglect of our veteran's that is almost a hallmark of the American political process, for good reasons and bad.

And it's too bad that all those hard-working VA employees who do provide competent and caring care for the broken and battered of our wars are saddled with the burden of governmental history - that transcends party - and with a series of Congress' and Executives who have thus far, over the last two decades, been unable to do much more than band-aid the system.

This at a time when the WWII-Korea generation is rushing through the system with their age-aggravated ailments and the GWOT, with it's unique wounded-to-KIA ratios producing more seriously wounded soldiers on the VA doorstep. And the Vietnam bubble is waiting in the wings.

And soldiers talk. We do. Amongst ourselves, and our children. The GWOT is a generational war, and one we really don't want to fight with a draftee army. Which means, in a very real sense - that the VA matters in both recruiting and retention. And if word of mouth is one of the most effective selling techinques... well, customer satisfaction with fully half of the VA mission is not very good, especially in my neck of the woods. And while delivery of care when you get it may be good - there are some glaring gaps in that care.

Which VA may not need to develop and deliver - it may be more efficient for much of the physical rehab to perhaps be outsourced with VA as the billpayer - which would leave them more resources to develop and deliver the services needed by the PTSD and TBI patients. Just saying the box can be examined from without - it doesn't have to be examined solely from within.

There is truth in the fact that the VA has made positive changes, and substantive ones, and is undertaking a study of the rating system preparatory to an overhaul.

To quote Michael Ledeen, albeit out of context, "Faster, please."

That said - it will be up to Congress to perform its oversight role, and ensure that the VA doesn't use the study of the ratings system as a convenient way to shed itself of inconvenient veterans.

And that means more than just looking over Secretary Nicholson's shoulder.

It means ponying up the money, too.

And no, it won't be simple.

But that's why all of you guys in DC get paid. On both sides of the aisle, and in both branches of the government.

Just sayin'.

H&I* Fires, 03 MAY 2007

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...
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Chief, looks like you need to get yourself some singles and a comfy chair, again. Stat.
(Hubert still has that phat sound system me and the zombies put into it, right? 'Bad Girl' is still in the tape deck?)
--
Bay and Carter continue their sparring here and here.
--ry

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The Armorer travels to DC today, which includes a meeting with our congressional Representative, Nancy Boyda this afternoon, followed by a small gathering this evening of friends in the area. I've got to pack and head out, so I'll leave you with these two milestones of WWII:

Stewart Clah

TSE' DAA' KAAN, N.M. (AP) _ Stewart Clah, a Navajo code talker who helped confound the Japanese during World War II and was awarded a Congressional Silver Medal, has died. He was 87.

Clah's family said he died Sunday in his sleep at his home in Tse' Daa' Kaan, an agricultural community in northwestern New Mexico.

The code talkers were an elite group of Navajo Marines who transmitted radio messages during the war in a coded version of their native language. The codes were never cracked by enemy forces; the talkers' existence was a military secret for decades after the war ended.

Twenty-nine original Navajo code talkers _ the first group to graduate from training _ were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bush in 2001. Others among the more than 300 Navajos who qualified as code talkers received the Congressional Silver Medal.

Louis G. Hill Jr.

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) _ Louis G. Hill Jr., one of the Tuskegee Airmen who were the nation's first black military pilots, has died. He was 90.

Hill died April 25 of complications from a stroke, said his wife, Vilma.

He joined the Army in September 1941, three months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He later joined the Air Force program for black pilots in Tuskegee, Ala., and earned his wings in 1944, his wife said.

She said her husband was a B-25 bomber pilot and flight leader, but World War II ended before his unit deployed.

At the time he joined the military, white officers and enlisted men refused to salute the black officers, turning their heads instead, Vilma Hill said.

While he was attending officer candidate school at Camp Lee, Va., Louis Hill and 11 other black students decided not to sit together during meals as assigned. Instead, they took seats with white students in an attempt to integrate the hall, Vilma Hill said.

After the war, her husband taught high school English, chemistry and physics and lectured about his experience as a Tuskegee Airman, she said.

Both men pioneers for their people, who served *all* of us, and we do well to remember it.

Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam.

H/t, Mike L. -the Armorer

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“SWWBO sez I have a better voice than Burl...”

Let’s go to the audio tape!
Armorer(on Hugh Hewitt).
Burl Ives.

Call 1-800-Cstl-John if you think the Armorer is better sounding.
Call 1-800-Cstl-Burl if you love Burl Ives.
(A 55 cent charge will apply per call. Proceeds go to feeding the moat monsters and keeping ry in stock of cheetos.)
--ry
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General Myers' Dole Lecture

It's nice to know I could have been the Chairman.

At least, that's the take-away I got from General Myer's Dole Lecture, delivered last night in Lawrence, Kansas.

Aside from the chutzpah and breath-taking arrogance of that comment, what do I mean?

General Myers and I share several views on the GWOT and the world in general.

He believes our rhetorical stance right after 9/11 cost us more than it gained us.

He believes we need to finish what we started in Iraq - but he also believes we have to tell the Iraqi government to put up or shut up - and that he believes they are, mostly, with some *huge* exceptions, and the pressure on them must be maintained to get and keep their house in order. While he didn't say "or else" he certainly left it dangling unsaid.

He laments the partisan, savage tones in our politics - from both sides, especially as it relates to foreign policy. He wishes there were more statesmen, vice men from states (my words, not his, btw).

And we need more patience. As a society.

He then laid out what he felt (bear in mind, he's a military guy, that's the lens from which he and I, for that matter view the world) was the greatest threat facing us today.

1. The greatest threat to us and our way of life (and this is the West in general) stems from violent extremists, generally of the Al-Qaeda style, and the threat *is* existential, especially in *their* minds - which means we need to take it seriously. And it's going to be a decades-long affair, just like dealing with the Soviet Union was.

2. The solution is not military, and never was. Military is a component, sometimes larger than others, most times in support of, conjunction with, and ancillary to.

3. The strategy has to be long term, committed, comprehensive, and multi-lateral. We cannot do it alone, though we will inevitably be the engine of it. We need a "Truman Doctrine" equivalent, that deals with the threat via information, economic development, diplomacy humanitarian aid as needed, and military support (as in helping nations build their security infrastructure, vice going in to dismantle it energetically). And when a mole pops up, whack it.

The General likened our current approach (of which he was a builder) to the Whack-a-Mole game, which we play pretty well. But to win, we need to open the box and fiddle with the algorithms that pop up the moles. With the intent of reducing to a very low frequency the pop-ups, and to provide a warning buzzer when one is about to pop-up. He thinks our score will improve greatly, with less wear and tear on the machine - and the hammer.

I did take the chance after the event to ask a question of the general, which, in fact, was asked for me by a KU student - that regarded the "boots on the ground" question. The general would have preferred to have it asked by me, I think. It wouldn't have had ill-informed politico-military gibberish larded into it.

Bottom line, on the issue of were there enough troops - General Myers answer was simple. The Generals in charge got the troops they asked for, and in General Myer's view, the problem was in execution. He was literally almost running out the door at that point, so I couldn't get an elaboration.

Regardless, the General will always remember me.

Why? Because I was the victim of an ambush! I'm a graduate of the University of Missouri, mortal enemies of the JayChickenhawks of Kansas University. They set me up. They gave me a pre-weakened chair, which collapsed in the middle of the General's speech, causing my not-inconsiderable frame to thwap! loudly on the tiles, much to my everlasting mortification.

At least that's my story. It's got nothing to do with the size of the shadow I cast.

Sigh. Y'know, ya want to be noticed, but that just wasn't the way...

I *did* discover that I do a passable Orson Welles/Raymond Burr impersonation on a TV screen.

Scary, I know.

When the Dole Institute gets the video posted, I'll put up the link. As has been the case for all the Dole Institute events I've attended, this one was well done, and well worth the effort to attend. If you live in the region, you should take advantage of the opportunity.

And the video of General Myers' giving the Dole Lecture is up!

H&I* Fires 2 May 2007

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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In their rush last week to "celebrate" a particular anniversary by using military funding legislation to try to embarrass President Bush, the Congress overlooked an anniversary of actual import in the greater scheme of things:

Last week marked the anniversary of shame in U.S. foreign policy, as Congress cut off military funding to Cambodia, beginning a genocidal blood bath of nearly 3 million innocents. The Communists brought their style of reforms and "social justice" to the people.

Something about repetition springs to mind... - FbL

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Ya just don't appreciate an "always on" cable connection until it isn't on, like this morning. So let's do a little catch-up.

Jules with "Another Grunt's rant on Iraq."

Patrick Lasswell with " Not All a Bunch of Clowns Smoking Dope, But..."

I'm getting ready for the Milblog Conference this week - and much is going on behind the scenes, especially with the new OPSEC guidance published by the Army. Blogging will be episodic, but worth the check-in, I think! -the Armorer

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I always have a problem with these ‘but the number isn’t high enough’ type arguments against The Long War/GWOT. There’s so many angles on which they’re wrong.

Was Theseus wrong to kill the Minotaur and upend Minos’ rule---the cost was only 9 virgins and 9 youths? Was Suzano-san wrong to slay Orochi? Saint George should’ve just let the Dragon accept its ransom then too, huh? Evil is evil, regardless of body counts.

That’s what we say about racists and homophobes with their violence, right? One attack is too many; one injured or maimed in this fashion is too many, even if the aggregate number is miniscule. One is too many and a blight on the world that we can’t let stand. As is the current conflagration in Darfur, right? One is too many even if the costs of change are far in excess of the costs of letting it stand(Ruby Ridge, Waco, etc…)So too is radical and ideological terrorism in its current levels of organization and form an evil whose eradication is something that is far more worth than the immediate costs incurred during the effort. The cost, the suffering induced on the many, to stamp them out is miniscule in proportion to the good gained thereby, right?

I have a problem with these because they’re rationalizations that the cost of living with evil is acceptable, and poor ones at that. They never say at what level it becomes something to go agro over with relation to transnational terrorism or why less than some theoretical number is tolerable---just that we’re over reacting--- while even one event is too high for instances of racism or homophobia. I’m just asking for a little consistency in application of utilitarianism on the issue of confronting evil, ‘yo.
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I’m waiting for the continuation of the Phil Carter of Info Dump and Col. Austin Bay debate over at the LATimes that started with this piece. That looks like it’s going to be an interesting exchange.
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‘Don’t bogart all the heavy Helium, yankee!’
--ry