Fist-pumping cadets embarrass West Point

From The American Thinker Blog:

Sixteen African-American senior cadets at West Point thought it a good idea to pump their fists in the air in a recent photo. In what many consider a violation of their oath of “Duty, Honor, Country,” they instead appear to align themselves with #BlackLivesMatter
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It is clear that these woman lack leadership skills. The best solution is to award them the degree in engineering that they have earned and dismiss them from the military. It is questionable if they are fit to lead, despite the fact that taxpayers just spent $250,000 educating each of them.

What would have happened if the situation were reversed and sixteen “good old white Southern boys” were photographed holding the Confederate flag? They would have been expelled immediately and would be long gone.

Women in the military want fair treatment; well, give it to them.

Thomas Lifson adds:

These women will have careers in the Army because without them, the quotacrats would make life miserable for the top brass. Under President Obama, the United States military is driven by quotas and social engineering imperatives, not the defense of the nation. Sad, but that's the way it is. For now.

But no one in the Brass has the brass stone required to do the right thing.

Quote of the Day III -- Will the Military Obey Unlawful Orders?

From Ace of Spades HQ:

One word: Martland. Martland was not persecuted directly by soldier-hating suits like Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy (a career politician) or Secretary Designee Eric "Fabulous" Fanning. Martland's NCOER was deliberately crafted to harm him. It was prepared and signed by officers and NCOs who knew they were uttering a false instrument, knew they were rejecting the Army Way of criticizing subordinates face to face and in private, knew they were taking up arms in a political battle, and doing it on the side of falsehood, and injuring a good man who had done a good thing, because the Army had drifted off into a foamy pink froth of values that were politically constructed and inconstant. What would those people do with an unlawful order?

People who saw in their commissions, their documents of appointment of rank, their assignment to positions, not as a place to bring their own morals and character to bear, but a place where they would stake all on unthinking obedience? And rationalize it afterward?

That way? Go that way if you will. Be ready to board the boxcars. Your turn will come.

-- WeaponsMan

The military is no long run by men who accomplish things, buy wannabes who care more about themselves than their branch. It's all about self promotion.

Army Human Resources Supports Booting Green Beret For Attacking Child Rapist

From The Daily Caller:

Army Human Resources Command has come out in support of the Army’s decision to remove Green Beret Charles Martland for pushing an Afghan boy rapist to the ground.

Sgt. 1st Class Martland’s fate has been a matter of serious contention between the Army and members of Congress, who have derided the service for prioritizing barbaric local cultural practices over the protection and safety of an underage victim, The Free Beacon reports. Major veterans’ organizations have also come out in support of Martland to no avail.

This time around, the reaction to Martland’s treatment was little different. GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter wrote a letter to Sen. Pat Roberts in an effort to bring to his attention Martland’s plight and urged him to keep Martland in mind while holding up the confirmation of proposed Army Secretary Eric Fanning.

This is wrong on so many levels, but what do you expect considering the current civilian leadership?

The real story of the military’s Santa Tracker isn’t what you’ve heard—it’s even better.

From The Atlantic via H/T at Instapundit:

Perhaps you’ve heard the legend of Harry Shoup. The gruff Air Force colonel stood watch on December night 60 years ago, in a secure bunker at Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), guarding against a nuclear strike. On his desk sat the Red Phone, connecting him directly to the four-star general at Strategic Air Command. Suddenly, the phone rang.

Colonel Shoup answered. “Is this Santa Claus?” asked a child’s voice. Rather than break a child’s heart, Colonel Shoup played along. Sears, it turned out, had published a newspaper ad, with a jolly Saint Nick urging, “Call me on my private phone, and I will talk to you personally.” Because of a typo, the ad accidentally listed the number for the Red Phone. As calls kept pouring in, Colonel Shoup assigned his staff to play Santa. They began to provide children with updates on the location of Santa’s sleigh. And the NORAD Santa Tracker was born.

Read the whole thing. And think about it, if this were to have happen today, would the Drive-By Media have helped?

Bergdahl to be court-martialed for desertion, misbehavior before the enemy

From Instapundit:

Frankly, the only surprising thing about this is that Army General who made this decision, General Robert B. Abrams, had the courage to move Bergdahl’s case forward despite the Obama Administration’s repeated attempts to downplay the seriousness of Bergdahl’s offenses.

Obama broke U.S. law by failing to notify Congress in advance of his decision to swap Bergdahl’s freedom for five high-ranking Taliban leaders, several of whom have attempted to resume hostilities against the U.S. All five of the freed Taliban–Mullah-Norullah Noori, Mohammed A Fazl, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mohammed Nabi Omari, and Abdul Haq Wasiq–were classified by the Department of Defense to pose a “HIGH” risk the the U.S.

The Bergdahl swap is a perfect illustration of the incompetence and/or treasonous behavior of Obama. Our President released five highly dangerous Islamic radicals for one treasonous U.S. soldier. He broke the law in doing so. Is this a decision that makes you feel safe? A recent Washington Post-ABC poll shows that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Obama’s handling of terrorism, and a Gallup poll released yesterday indicates that terrorism is now the most important problem identified by respondents.

It has taken awhile to sink in for some, but most Americans are finally beginning to understand that this President does not have America’s best interests in mind.

This is a brave General, who may soon be relieved of command by the petty tyrant that currently occupies the White House.

Related: “I wonder if Barack Obama is insane enough to contemplate pardoning this guy, some time in December of 2016? It would be, in fact, insane; but at the same time, the President’s got his own reputation to protect – or, more accurately, his own self-image to pander to. God forbid that a man that the White House described as serving with honor and distinction should rot in a military jail for the next half-decade…”

Largest destroyer built for Navy headed to sea for testing

From Yahoo Finance via H/T at Instapundit: The name of the ship is the USS Zumwalt. Oh, and it's commanded by Captain James Kirk.

No word on whether his middle name is Tiberius.

Can imagine having to live up to that legacy!

Seeing stars, again -- Naval Academy reinstates celestial navigation

From The Capital Gazette via H//T at Instapundit:

Maritime nostalgia, however, isn't behind the return.

Rather, it's the escalating threat of cyber attacks that has led the Navy to dust off its tools to measure the angles of stars.

After all, you can't hack a sextant.

This will be handy for when the Chinese knock out GPS. Discontinuing the practice was hubris; it’s a good sign that they’re going back to it now.

I'm flabbergasted the Navy would eliminate classes in celestial navigation. Some Old School Admiral must have said something.

Why Our Commanders Look The Other Way During Child Rape

From Kurt Schlichter at The Federalist via H/T at Ace of Spades HQ:

Without a doubt, the commander in Afghanistan could evaluate the situation, determine that we are not going to tolerate the rape of children, and instruct our troops to fire two warning shots into the sternum of anyone found doing so.
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Alternatively, the American commander in Afghanistan could decide that our need for allies outweighs the need to prevent child rape, and clearly announce that our forces will do nothing to stop it when they see it. Sometimes, you need to accept the cultural mores of useful local forces, as deplorable as they are, and as soldiers you are expected to be disciplined enough to do so. Of course, that would raise certain uncomfortable questions back home, such as, “Mr. President, why the hell are your generals telling our troops to look the other way when they see a man anally raping a little boy?”

So, faced with these two options, the craven generals selected the worst possible option, and failed to give clear guidance one way or the other. Instead of taking on the responsibility that comes with the job, they punted. They chose not to give clear orders—“See it and stop it” or “See it but do nothing”—putting the risk they should bear as commanders onto their subordinates. Now, soldiers have to decide whether to do what is right or do what their generals telegraph they want done but won’t say because they don’t want to be held accountable for it.
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So, if the captain acts according to Army values and puts a stop to the child rape, he’s wrong. If he does nothing, and later some congressman or reporter asks the general why his troops aren’t stopping child rapes, the captain is going to be wrong again. If you think the general is going to say, “Oh, the captain as just following my order to allow child rapes occurring in front of him to continue,” you are delusional.

Schlichter calls it a moral crisis in the Military. It's not, it's cowardice under the cover of political expediency.

Obama bears some of the blame because he could fix this with a few select firings and unequivocal guidance that values come first. But no one expects that of him, and there is no excuse why the generals have not done it themselves. They could demand competence. They could demand moral courage. They could resign rather than play along with misguided politics. But they have chosen their stars and positions and perks instead. It’s a disgrace, and our troops and little Afghan kids are paying the price.

Too many of the generals who run the Pentagon are politicians, not warriors. The Pentagon is a place that should be run EXCLUSIVELY by warriors, such a Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland, (a now discharged Green Beret.)

The Ground-Shaking Power of the M777A2 Howitzer

From Popular Mechanics:

Thanks to some field testing during a joint exercise by the U.S. Marines and the Australian Army, we get this video of the M777A2 firing off rounds. The M777 Lightweight Towed Howitzer is the most recent 155 mm howitzer, debuting in 2005. The model used here, the A2, has additional software upgrades that allow it to use Excalibur GPS-guided rounds, making the M77A2 incredibly accurate from up to 25 miles away. (For comparison, the gun it replaced, the M198 howitzer, had an effective range of 14 miles, or just under 20 miles if using rocket-assisted artillery rounds.)

 

But the real selling point of the M777? The "Lightweight" part. It weighs just 9,800 pounds, meaning it can be towed into the battlefield via a variety of helicopters, from the MV-22 Osprey to the larger  CH-47 Chinook, and can be set up for firing within 3 minutes. Contrast this to the M198, which came in at 15,772 ​pounds, could only be moved by the lumbering CH-47 Chinook​, and took almost 10 minutes to be ready for action.

"That was an Earth shattering kaboom!" said Marvin the Martian.

The President's Very Real Military Problem

From Diane Dimond at Real Clear Politics:

The president of the United States is the commander in chief over all branches of the military. It is a historic time, given that no military member goes public to speak negatively about the ultimate commander.

But now, with the scandal in full bloom, after the administration's smokescreen about what triggered the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and after the president's tepidly received speech at West Point announcing diplomacy will replace military responses henceforth, the time for silence is over.

Now career military personnel are speaking out through gritted teeth, insisting they speak for active-duty personnel who cannot talk without being punished. They are speaking about injustice, ineptitude and impeachment.

The era of silence changed after President Barack Obama's super-secret prisoner swap -- five "high-risk" Taliban prisoners from Gitmo in exchange for one U.S. solider held for nearly five years in Afghanistan. The fact that the soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, walked away from his unit leaving a note saying he was "disillusioned with the Army," did not support his commander in chief's mission in Afghanistan and was "leaving to start a new life" left military types stunned that the president would stage a Rose Garden ceremony with Bergdahl's parents.

"I'm just surprised the president was dumb enough to stand next to them," Maj. Mike Lyons told me. "It's another example of (Obama's) reading the tea leaves wrong."

Since he appeals to the low information voter, they aren't noticing, yet.

The Warthog, a soldier’s best friend; Obama, not so much

From Powerline Blog:

The Obama Pentagon proposes to do away with the A-10 Thunderbolt, also known, thanks to its appearance, as the Warthog.

This is a unique flying fighting machine. Protected by armor, it flies into combat zones at an altitude low enough for pilots to distinguish friend from foe. Foes become the target of a 30mm cannon that protrudes from front of the aircraft. Says one retired Air Force pilot, “we can kill everything on the battlefield; the full spectrum — tanks to troops.”

Developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s when helicopters were routinely being shot down in Vietnam, the A-10 has saved the lives of U.S. troops in war after war. In the first Persian Gulf War, it took out much of Iraq’s tanks, artillery, and missile sites. In Afghanistan it saved 90 coalition troops who were on the verge of being overrun by the Taliban. For this, the pilots received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor.

Not surprisingly, troops love the Warthog. So does the brass. Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, calls it “the ugliest, most beautiful aircraft on the planet.” Gen. John Campbell, the Army’s vice chief of staff, calls it a “game-changer.”

The Air Force defends its decision to do away with the A-10 on the grounds that, with the defense cuts that have been ordered, they have no real choice. That sounds implausible.

But it seems clear, given affection for the aircraft even among top brass, that if Obama’s cuts were less severe, “the best close-air support platform we have” (to quote Sen. Kelly Ayotte whose husband was an A-10 pilot) would not be on its way out.

When I was growing up, I wanted to fly fighters, the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, you know, be a fighter jock. Then, Operation Desert Shield occurred. The Iraqi and Russian Brass were shown something that the American Generals knew, how effective of a tank killer the A-10 was. Let's just say this, when the Iraqi tank commanders hear the engines of the A-10 close by, they abandon their tanks and run for their lives.

That is fear, and respect of that platform.

And the Dear Leader wants to kill it.