Bloggasm

Blackfive: I enlisted in the military when I was seventeen. I briefly served as an Army aircraft crew chief before becoming a paratrooper and then joining Special Operations. After receiving a Commission as a Cavalry Officer, I served in units in Europe, Asia and Southwest Asia before working as an Intelligence Officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). I left the military as a Major in the US Army Reserve in July of 2001. I have a Masters of Science Degree from the University of Chicago. Currently, I am an IT Executive in Chicago.

A good friend of mine, Major Mathew Schram, was killed on Memorial Day, 2003. In fighting his way out of an ambush, he saved the life of a Newsweek reporter who never wrote a story about Mat.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/05/one_year.html

Newsweek really pissed me off and I started blogging about the good, the bad, the humorous and the ugly of military life because most MSM outlets like Newsweek weren’t. If it didn’t fit the template of “Bush sucks, the war sucks, the military is failing,” then it didn’t get published by most of the MSM.

There was a distinct void of coverage of what was actually happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. My friends were sending emails, reports, after-action-reviews, and photos that were contradicting what I was reading in the NYTimes and the WashPo. So I started posting about them. And Blackfive.net took on a life of it’s own…

Simon Owens: Much of the rhetoric in the 2004 election and in political dicussions today involve the “message” we send the troops when criticising the war. As a military blogger, what is the notion of this “message,” and does it imply that we’re sending false messages of reality to the troops in order to boost morale?

Blackfive: Well, you are asking first about the message you send the troops when you criticize the war. Saying that you support the troops and not the war, sends the troops the message that (1) you don’t support their mission which,ergo, means them and (2) that you don’t approve of what they are doing.

I have no idea what you mean about “sending false messages of reality to the troops in order to boost morale.” The messages you describe at the beginning of your question clearly would not boost morale. In fact, I would argue that it would have the opposite effect.

Simon Owens: Where does the dividing line between patriotism and personal decisions lie? Many people will say that it is the soldier’s duty to follow orders, not come to a consensus on the meaning of war, and yet many of these same people were the ones who criticized John Kerry for the “atrocities” that he admitted to during his war protests? When is it considered fine for a soldier to refuse to fight?

Blackfive: There is a dividing line between patriotism and personal decisions? Isn’t being patriotic a personal decision? I believe so.

I think what you are asking is where is the dividing line between following orders and abiding by your personal convictions?

Soldiers must follow orders unless the orders are illegal, immoral, or unethical. For example, an order to torture or execute prisoners would be an unlawful order and should be disobeyed (not to mention reported).

As for John Kerry, I don’t believe that John Kerry admitted to atrocities (otherwise, why don’t we indict him on war crimes right now?). What John Kerry was criticized for was for labeling EVERY veteran of Viet Nam a War Criminal. Here’s the quote:

“These were not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit – the emotions in the room and the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.”

“…they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country. ”

I believe that some of the people that John Kerry was quoting from interviews in Detroit did not fight in Viet Nam and Kerry also admitted that he never witnessed atrocities.

But still his words were used against our POWs held in North Viet Nam:

Paul Galanti learned of Kerry’s speech while held captive inside North Vietnam’s infamous “Hanoi Hilton” internment camp. The Navy pilot had been shot down in June 1966 and spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war.

During torture sessions, he said, his captors cited the antiwar speeches as “an example of why we should cross over to (their) side.”

And:

“They were always talking about that (anti-war demonstrations), and they picked right up on Kerry’s throw-away line, ‘Don’t be the last man to die in a lost cause, or die for a lost cause,’” said Kenneth Cordier, an Air Force pilot who spent 2,284 days as a prisoner. “They repeated that incessantly.

“They used these photographs and inputs, voice tapes, whatever, from these peace people to try to convince us the whole country had turned anti-war and we were showing a very bad attitude and would never go home.”

That’s as far as you need to look for reasons why he wasn’t elected. Veterans’ Day came a week early in November of 2004 when John Kerry was sent home packing.

Simon Owens: What are some of the strategies that the goverment will have to engage in in order to meet their recruitment quotas? Will they ever be able to convince people to sign up to serve when a war is hanging above them?

Blackfive: Personally, I’d like to see military pay increased. In fact, I’d like to see military pay increased by the same percentages as the Congress has increased its pay over the years.

As far as I know, the military is meeting its quotas. There was a recent story about the National Guard not making its quota for April (~90%), but the Guard’s recruitment, as of May 1st, was at about 103%. So, you have media cherry picking data and quotes to make a story about a crisis that really doesn’t exist.

Here’s some quotes for you:

DoD Announces Recruiting And Retention Numbers For April
Press Release, 5/10/06

· The Army National Guard Has Recruited 103 Percent Of Its Year-To-Date Goal.

· The Air Force Reserve Has Recruited 105 Percent Of Its Year-To-Date Goal.

· The Marine Corps Reserve Has Recruited 100 Percent Of Its Year-To-Date Goal.

· For Active Duty Recruiting, All Services Exceeded Their Recruiting Goals In April For The 11th Consecutive Month And Remain Ahead Of Their Year-To-Date Goals.

· All services are also projected to meet their retention goals for the current fiscal year.

And an article from the Stars & Stripes about recruiting:

The Army achieved 102 percent of its goal with 6,114 recruits; the Navy, 104 percent of its goal with 2,696 recruits; the Marines also got 104 percent of its goal with 1,734 recruits; and the Air Force made 101 percent of its goal with 2,375 recruits, the figures show.

And an interesting take from the AP:

“Uncle Sam wants you,” that famous Army recruiting poster says. But does he really?

Not if you’re a Ritalin-taking, overweight, Generation Y couch potato — or some combination of the above. A tattoo also can be grounds for rejection.

The military does not actually want most of the people in its prime recruiting age group of 17 to 24.

Of the about 32 million Americans in this group, the Army deems the vast majority too obese, too uneducated or too flawed in some way, according to its estimates for the current budget year…

One thing to note is that recruiting is just one part of maintaining the military. Retaining good soldiers is the other factor, and retention is high (with or without the stop-loss):USAToday:

Army Surpassing Year’s Retention Goal by 15%

And since Guard and Reserve units recruit heavily from departing active duty soldiers, they are not getting as many prior-service people due to the high active duty retention rates across the military branches.

Also, don’t forget that we (Hillary Clinton led the charge on the Armed Services Committee) increased the size of the Army by 30,000 troops – that raise had a large effect on recruiting. Think about where all those troops are supposedly coming from (retention AND recruiting).

Simon Owens: With how thinly we’re spread out in Iraq, do we have the force necessary to meet any other future wars? For instance, a war in Iran?

Blackfive: I think what you mean to say is that, because we have substantial forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, the Balkans, and Asia (Korea, Philippines, etc.), we don’t have the forces necessary to fight another war?

I would hope that our allies would help more.

I think we need to be very careful about how we look at another war because you can’t just take a template for waging war and use it in every situation.

There are many options to be weighed with Iran. I don’t think many people are thinking seriously about a land invasion, but I could see strikes against nuclear targets, snatching scientists to see what they know about a nuke program, and fomenting a change in the absolutely irresponsible government of Iran.

Whatever we do about Iran, I’d like us to stop them from interfering in Iraq, too.

Simon Owens: If Democrats were to take over Congress in 2006 or the White House in 2008, how do you think this will change the strategy of the war? Many critics said that John Kerry’s plan for the Iraq War weren’t much different than those of Bush. Will things stay the same?

Blackfive: I served under Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush. We tend to thrive when the leadership is good, and suffer when it is bad.

While I respect our president, I (and probably most soldiers) don’t really hold politicians with much regard.

John Kerry’s plan was not different. Why? Because there are certain tasks that will take time. Certainly, there’s always room for improvement but time is a factor that’s difficult to overcome.

For instance, getting the Iraqi Army up and running is not an easy task.

Question: How long does it take to make a US Army Battalion Sergeant Major or Commander?

Answer: Twenty Years.

It’s going to take a long time – not twenty years, but years still, to get the IA and IP fully functional. Having John Kerry or Howard Dean in charge would not change that.

Simon Owens: If you had been in charge of the Iraq War, how would you have done things differently?

Blackfive: I’m not comfortable with Armchair Quarterbacking this one. I’d ask you for specific questions. The invasion was handled well – compare it to any invasion in the history of the world and you’ll find it was one of the most well-run operations ever conceived. I think we can all agree that the subsequent rebuilding of Iraq has not gone as well.

Most of my criticisms are with the State Department and CIA. For example, I would have liked to see us be able to invade Iraq via Turkey, stop Iran and Syria from supporting terrorism in Iraq and the world, and establish commerce more quickly in Iraq.

Simon Owens: What are the top five blogs you would recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

Blackfive: For an honest view of the war (truth on the ground, examining the media, etc.):

The Mudville Gazette

CounterColumn

CounterTerrorism.org

IraqTheModel

Sergeant TF Boggs