Tag: US Military

Winds Of Change?

After decades of building a public support for the money being spent on policies to counter the ‘China problem’…..is about to change…..and after spending billions upon billions to protect Taiwan…..

The newly rebranded Department of War is expected to release a National Defense Strategy that prioritizes missions in the homeland and the Western Hemisphere over countering China and Russia, a shift from the Pentagon’s policy in recent years, which has placed China as the top priority, according to a report from POLITICO.

The report said that the new NDS has been placed on the desk of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who could make changes to the document before it’s released. The news comes as the US military has been deploying National Guard troops in US cities and has sent an armada of warships near Venezuela in the Caribbean, where it recently bombed a boat allegedly carrying drugs.

…

A new NDS that de-prioritizes China doesn’t mean that the US will slow its military buildup in the Asia Pacific, since China is still expected to be the top priority outside of the Western Hemisphere. Colby is also overseeing the Pentagon’s Global Posture Review, which could lead to US troop reductions in Europe and the Middle East, potentially allowing more troops to be deployed to Latin America and Asia.

(antiwar.com)

After the attack on the so-called drug boat off the coast of Venezuela the US is focusing more and more on Latin America…. we have moved a navy flotilla into the waters off Venezuela and after the boat attack the jets of Lula’s military keeps buzzing the American ships….

Here we go again….another regime change to waste money on yet again….

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday didn’t rule out the possibility of the US military pursuing regime change in Venezuela and suggested more US strikes on boats in the region were coming.

Hegseth made the comments in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday morning, the day after the US bombed a boat in the Southern Caribbean that it claimed without evidence was carrying drugs, marking the first US kinetic military action in the name of combating drug trafficking, though the real purpose of the attack may be part of a new push to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“We have assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop … with just this strike,” Hegseth said. “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.”

When asked if the goal was regime change in Venezuela, Hegseth said that was a “presidential decision” and added that “we’re prepared with every asset that the American military has.”

(antiwar.com)

Every administration has to have in its sights a nation for regime change……

Why is that?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is The War On Terror Over?

This meme has been lacking in the news reports for a couple of years now…..after 9/11 GW vowed to make terrorists pay with his War on Terror and from that day on the US went around the globe to take on every piss ant group that he deemed “terrorists’.

The question remains….is the War on Terror over?

First my thought….one cannot go to war on an idea for terror is just that not some entity…..but I guess it made the whole adventure more palatable to the weak minded…..

But what about the question?

n Sept. 16, 2001, five days after the attacks on New York and Washington, DC, President George W. Bush declared, “This crusade – this war on terrorism – is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I’m going to be patient. But I can assure the American people I am determined.”

Four days after that, President Bush declared the “war on terror” to be primarily against al-Qaeda. “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda,” he said in an address to Congress and the nation, “but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

He described the enemy thus:

This group and its leader — a person named Osama bin Laden — are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.  There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.

Bush was correct in his assessment of the group.

One of those countries into which al-Qaeda jihadists implanted themselves was Syria, where from 2011 – with the support of the Obama Administration – they attempted to overthrow the secular leader, Bashar al-Assad, using terrorist tactics they had been well-trained in.

They soon changed their name – but not their stripes – and became the Al-Nusra Front, headed up by an experienced jihadist who fought against US troops in Iraq by the name of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. His group was known for chopping off heads. Perhaps even American heads.

Last December Jolani’s jihadists – with support from the US, Turkey, and Israel – finally brought down the Assad government and quicker than you can say “Washington PR makeover” he clipped his beard, switched out his tactical military watch for a $90,000 Patek Philippe World Time Chronograph, and declared himself president.

The “civilized world” cheered the re-emergence of democracy in Syria!

At their first meeting earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, President Trump praised jihadist Jolani as “a young, attractive fellow” and “a tough guy, a fighter, with a very strong background. He has a lot of potential, he’s a real leader.”

https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2025/07/13/the-global-war-on-terror-is-over-terror-won/

So the US has supported some of the same people that supported the attacks on 9/11….where is the logic?

Outta sight outta mind I guess…..

The idea remains so one cannot infer that the “war” has been won.

How long before it strikes again?

I know there were some strong opinions after 9/11 but are those same opinions still valid?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is This A ‘Reichstag Fire’ Moment?

BY now with all the media coverage every swing dick in this country has an opinion on what is happening in LA.

For me it is a “Reichstage Fire” moment…..if you have no damn idea what I am saying then ask Google….after many years of threatening the use of American military an opportunity has finally arrives and Donny found his excuse.

As President Donald Trump deployed U.S. Marines to Los Angeles on Monday in response to protests against immigration raids and the violent arrest of a popular labor leader, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office announced that he and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sued Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over their weekend takeover of the state’s National Guard.

“President Trump’s order calling federalized National Guard troops into Los Angeles—over the objections of the governor and local law enforcement—is unnecessary and counterproductive. It’s also deeply unfair to the members of the National Guard who are hard at work every day protecting our state, preparing for and responding to emergencies, and training so that, if called, they can fight our nation’s wars,” Bonta said in a statement.

“Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion. The president is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends,” he added. “Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the president’s authority under the law—and not one we take lightly. We’re asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order.”

…

“Donald Trump is creating fear and terror by failing to adhere to the U.S. Constitution and overstepping his authority. This is a manufactured crisis to allow him to take over a state militia, damaging the very foundation of our republic,” Newsom, who widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender, said Monday.

“Every governor, red or blue, should reject this outrageous overreach,” he argued. “This is beyond incompetence—this is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy. It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. We will not let this stand.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/california-ice-trump

This is smelling like something that has happened in the past….

My fellow Americans be afraid….be very afraid….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Text Read Around The World

The big deal in the news for the past few days has been the screw up in a NatSec meeting…..was it a breach or not?

Here is the story as of today….

Much of the discussion around the bizarre national security texting breach has been focused on how it happened and what, if any, punishments are warranted. But some outlets also are assessing the text conversation itself among high-ranking White House officials discussing a pending military strike. Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic journalist accidentally looped into the chat, published some of the back and forth, though no details about the strike itself. Some of the takeaways:

  • Vance disagrees: An editorial in the Wall Street Journal points out that Vice President JD Vance disagreed with President Trump’s decision to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen. “I think we are making a mistake,” he wrote, suggesting that it was more in Europe’s interest. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” he said. “There’s a further risk that we see moderate to severe spike in oil prices.” Others disagreed, and planning went forward, but “Trump now knows which of his deputies tried to block it and which tried to carry it out,” notes the editorial. A piece at New York magazine on this is headlined, “Maybe J.D. Vance Isn’t Trump’s Puppet.”

  • Hegseth slams Europe: At one point in his back-and-forth with Vance, defense chief Pete Hegseth slammed European allies, reports the BBC. “If you think we should do it let’s go,” Vance texted to Hegseth. “I just hate bailing Europe out again.” To which Hegseth replied: “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
  • Blaming Biden: Axios notes that, at least in this conversation, the debate was not so much about military strategy as about how to convey the message to the public that it’s necessary. Hegseth: “I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what—nobody knows who the Houthis are—which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”
  • Stephen Miller? Goldberg noted that one participant was “SM,” whom he assumed was Stephen Miller. This person was fully on board with the president and also wanted accountability from Europe. “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light” to strike the Houthis, SM wrote during the discussion on whether to move forward. In terms of Europe: He said the US must make clear “what we expect in return,” adding that the real question was, “If Europe doesn’t remunerate, then what? … If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.”

My favorite part of this story is the blaming of Biden….

Free-loading Europe?  These guys are idiots.

The Atlantic has released the transcripts of this now ‘infamous’ exchange…..

Two days after revealing that its editor-in-chief was included in a group chat where high-ranking members of the Trump administration discussed plans for strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Atlantic has published those attack plans. As Jeffrey Goldberg, said editor-in-chief, and staff writer Shane Harris write, in the first story on the Signal chat, the Atlantic held off on publishing specific details of the attacks that were contained in the text in keeping with a policy of not publishing information related to military operations if it could potentially lead to harm to US personnel. The calculus changed Tuesday, they write.

Throughout Tuesday, they explain, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and President Trump all insisted there was not classified information in the messages. “These statements presented us with a dilemma,” Goldberg and Harris write. The crux of their decision:

  • “The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared.”
  • Those messages held details on the attacks two hours before the bombing of Houthi positions was due to begin, including “the exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen.” In the wrong hands, that info could have been used against American pilots and other US personnel, they write. Based on administration officials’ insistence that the information was not classified, the Atlantic on Tuesday asked the White House if it objected to the messages being published; in the evening, it got a response from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who reiterated there was nothing classified within but said the White House objected as it was intended to be a “private deliberation” of “sensitive information.” It went ahead, with one detail redacted: the name of Ratcliffe’s chief of staff, which appeared in the messages, as CIA intelligence officers are typically not publicly identified.

Let the dance begin.  Who will take the hit for this screw up?

Well the answer is NatSec Adviser Waltz….

National security adviser Mike Waltz, who inadvertently added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat discussing plans for strikes on Yemen, says he takes “full responsibility” for the Signal breach, but he’s not sure exactly how it happened. “It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he told Laura Ingraham on Fox News‘ The Ingraham Angle in an interview Tuesday.

  • Waltz went on to attack Goldberg, calling him “the bottom scum of journalists” and implying that he was somehow to blame for the breach. “I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don’t text him,” Waltz said. “He wasn’t on my phone. And we’re going to figure out how this happened.” Waltz said he’s not a conspiracy theorist, “but of all the people out there, somehow this guy who has lied about the president … he’s the one that somehow gets on somebody’s contact and then gets sucked into this group.”

  • President Trump blamed a Waltz staffer for the breach Tuesday, but Waltz told Ingraham that it wasn’t a staffer’s fault, the Washington Post reports. He said he meant to add somebody else to the group—he didn’t disclose who—but the number for the contact was Goldberg’s. “You got somebody else’s number on someone else’s contact. So, of course, I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looks like someone else,” Waltz said. “Whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean is what we are trying to figure out.”

Waltz said he was consulting with Elon Musk, the Guardian reports. “We’ve got the best technical minds looking at how this happened,” he said.

Democrats have called for Waltz to be fired, but Trump said Tuesday that Waltz won’t lose his job over the breach. He described Waltz as a “good man” who has “learned a lesson.”

In an interview the Atlantic published Monday, Goldberg said the episode is “very relatable,” because everybody has sent a text or email to an unintended recipient, and it shows why government officials discussing sensitive issues shouldn’t use Signal. “Until almost the very last minute, I could not believe that this was actually happening, that there could be a Mack-truck-size breach, that somehow, the editor in chief of the Atlantic was invited into a conversation with the intelligence agencies, secretaries, the national security adviser,” he said. “Like most reporters, I’ve been a recipient of leaks. A leak is a totally different thing. That’s a whistleblower trying to make complaints. This is just reckless.”

There is the story so far….I am sure there is more to come.

Watch This Blog

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“lego ergo scribo”

Is This Necessary?

Trump has made many threatening gestures toward some of our allies….like Greenland, Canada and Panama….and recent report is most disturbing is there a possibility that the whole canal thing could turn ugly….

President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to prepare plans for carrying out his threat to “take back” the Panama Canal, including by military force if needed, two U.S. officials familiar with the situation told NBC News Thursday.

According to the outlet, the officials said that U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is drawing up potential plans that run the gamut from working more closely with Panama’s military to a less likely scenario in which U.S. troops invade the country and take the canal by force. They also said that SOUTHCOM commander Adm. Alvin Holsey has presented draft strategies to be reviewed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is scheduled to visit Panama next month.

The officials explained that the likelihood of a U.S invasion depended on the level of cooperation shown by the Panamanian military.

Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out use of military force to seize control of the vital U.S.-built waterway, as well as Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Last week during his joint address to Congress, Trump proclaimed that “to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal,” but his administration has not clarified precisely what “reclaiming” entails.

The Republican president says the U.S. needs to retake control of the Panama Canal to enhance “economic security,” and has falsely claimed that the waterway is “operated by China.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-panama-canal-invasion-plan

This is ridiculous…..at what point does this fool stop trying to flex his muscle and he learns to cooperate with our allies?

Just what the US needs now…..yet another war to make things worse.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Defend Israel”?

WTF?

This is the second time someone in the Biden admin to make this statement…..

The US is sending more warships and additional fighter jets to the Middle East as part of a deployment that’s “entirely focused on defending Israel,” a White House official said Sunday.

A Pentagon official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that a US Air Force squadron of F-22 Raptor fighters jets is also headed to the region.

The US and Israel are expecting a major attack from Iran and its allies in response to the Israeli killing of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer claimed the purpose of the new military deployments was to reduce tensions in the region even though US military support has only emboldened Israel to escalate.

“The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks and avoid regional conflict, which has been our goal really since October 7,” Finer told CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

While the Biden administration has claimed its goal has been to avoid a regional war, reports as far back as November 2023 said that the US believed Israel was trying to provoke a major conflict, and the US continued supplying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with weapons and political support.

The US pledge to defend Israel also makes it more likely that US assets in the region could be targeted in any reprisal attacks. Iran’s allies in Iraq and Syria could target US bases as a way to distract the US from any Iranian missiles fired toward Israel, or the Houthis in Yemen could ramp up attacks on US warships.

(antiwar.com)

Again WTF?

The US gives Israel millions in weapons and monetary support which they use on civilians but when a nation that has some clout in the region gets butt hurt we have to dash in a save the day…..why is they?

Does that mean that Israel is not the power in the region without the USA?

Now that the US has gone all in for the defense of Israel the Israelis are considering a ‘preemptive strike’…..

Israel is considering launching a “preemptive strike” on Iran as it’s awaiting a reprisal attack for the assassination of Hamas’s political chief in Iran.

According to Israeli media reports, Israel could launch an attack on Iran if it finds an Iranian strike is imminent. The idea was discussed on Sunday night in a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top military and intelligence officials.

(antiwar.com)

This is pushing all the buttons for a expansion of the tensions in the region….does the US really want another war?

I know the Hawks in Congress have been pushing for a round of attacks on Iran….will they get there wish?

I know the defense industry is jerking off at the prospect of another war and more profits.

Is this what you people want?

When will the American people have enough of war, the death and destruction, when?

Not to worry your sons and daughters will pay the price.

I have had enough of this bullshit!

Screw Israel….let them fend for themselves…..they start shit let them figure it out….and apparently I am not alone….

The majority of Americans oppose the idea of US troops being used to defend Israel if it comes under attack by Iran, according to a poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that was released on Tuesday.

The poll, conducted from June 21–July 1, 2024, found that 56% of Americans oppose US troops defending Israel, while 42% support the idea. Support for defending Israel is stronger among Republicans, with 53% in favor and only 32% of Democrats in favor.

The survey also found that 55% of Americans oppose US troops defending Israel if it comes under attack by a neighboring country.

The results come as the Biden administration is vowing to defend Israel from an expected Iranian reprisal attack for the killing of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. A major coordinated attack launched by Iran and its allies could result in American casualties, and the US support for Israel risks a major regional war.

(antiwar.com)

This gives me hope that there is some sanity among my fellow Americans.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The M-IC Wins Again.

I recently wrote a report about the War Department looking at direct attacks on the Houthis in Yemen….

Here We Go!

Just a couple of days later the conflict began.

The US is carrying out airstrikes in Yemen.

Along with allies, the US launched airstrikes against more than a dozen Houthi installations in Yemen on Thursday, retaliation that President Biden said demonstrates that a 20-nation coalition “will not tolerate” the persistent attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The US strikes involve Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a Navy submarine, and fighter jets that took off from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, the New York Times reports. The Houthis’ attacks, purportedly a message opposing Israel’s offensive in Gaza, had been escalated this week. A 20-nation coalition that includes the US had warned that a response was imminent if the Red Sea attacks did not cease.

The initial wave of airstrikes hit radars, missile and drone launch sites, and weapons storage areas. Senior American officials have blamed Iran, saying its technological and intelligence support of the Houthis made the shipping attacks possible. Britain took part in the strikes Thursday, and US officials said the operation is to also include the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, and Bahrain. The Houthis have controlled parts of Yemen since 2014, per ABC News reports. Earlier Thursday, Houthi leader Abdul Malek Al-Houthi said in a speech that any US attack on Yemen sites “will not go unanswered,” per CNN.

In a statement, Biden said the strikes are in response to the attacks on international vessels, which he called unprecedented. “These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation,” he said. The strikes were the first military action by the US since the Houthis’ drone and missile attacks began early in the Israel-Hamas war, per the AP. For the first time, Biden said, the military used anti-ship ballistic missiles. In his statement, the president said he won’t hesitate to “direct further measures” if necessary.

Why?

Why not ask our good buddies in Saudi and UAE to do this after all they have been bombing Yemen into the stone age for years.

I guess the old M-IC saying holds true….’an used weapon is a useless weapon’.

Why did we have to be the ones doing this deed….what we no longer have ‘allies’ in the Arabian peninsula?

If not why are we wasting so much some sucking up to the desert royalty?

This is BS and will probably come back to bite us in the exposed ass.

Stupid has consequences.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Trust Eroding?

In this case the trust I am referring to is the trust of the American people for our military.

The Reagan Institute wanted to find out where our military stands with the population just before the last election….their findings listed below….

Americans’ trust and confidence in the military increased slightly over the past year, but remains near a five-year low, according to a new survey by the Ronald Reagan Institute. 

Conducted in early November after the U.S. midterm elections, the study found that 48 percent of the American public trusts and has confidence in the military, up from 45 percent last year but way down from 70 percent in 2018.

“No other public institution has seen this stark of a decline as we have seen for the U.S. military,” said Rachel Hoff, the institute’s policy director. “I’ll note that it does still rank at the top of the list of the institutions we poll.”

Why the decline? The perceived over-politicization of military leaders was cited by 62 percent of respondents as the top reason for their decline in confidence. And 59 percent cited “the performance and competence of presidents, as the Commander-In-Chief.”

Also of note: 57 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. “must continue to stand with Ukraine and oppose Russian aggression.” But 33 percent said that “America has enough problems at home and cannot afford to spend more on the conflict.” More Democrats favored continued support for Ukraine (73 percent) than Republicans (51 percent). Some 76 percent of respondents said they view Ukraine as an ally, up from 49 percent one year ago. And 82 percent view Russia as an enemy, up from 65 percent last year. Recall: in 2019, one in four surveyed viewed Russia as an ally of the United States.

Some 77 percent of those surveyed said they were concerned that Russia might use a nuclear weapon, while 74 percent said they were concerned the war in Ukraine might spill over into Eastern Europe and force the U.S. to get involved. And some 70 percent said they were concerned that the war in Ukraine is distracting U.S. policymakers “from the threat posed” by China.

“To me, the way I read it, despite these very real concerns, and the survey makes the respondents aware of those concerns, there’s still this continued support for Ukraine,” said Roger Zakheim, the institute’s Washington director. 

Some 71 percent of those surveyed said they are concerned that Russian aggression “will inspire other authoritarians to invade their democratic neighbors,” Hoff said. 

Finally, 54 percent of those surveyed said that the United States does not have a clear strategy for managing its relationship with China, while 27 percent said the U.S. does have a clear strategy. And 54 percent said they support efforts to reduce the amount of trade between the United States and China. Also: “a bipartisan majority of Americans support efforts to discourage a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.”

(defenseone.com)

At the same time another survey was taken of the American people on our involvement in world affairs…..

According to a new poll, perhaps not surprisingly, many Americans across party lines would like the U.S. to have a less interventionist and meddlesome foreign policy. 

The results of a Morning Consult survey show that there continues to be substantial public support for scaling back U.S. military entanglements. Large blocs of Republicans and Democrats are in favor of less involvement in the affairs of other countries in general, and a plurality of Americans supports decreasing overseas deployments and reducing involvement in foreign conflicts. 

While there were slight fluctuations over the course of the three-month survey, there were more voters that said they wanted a decreased military presence and a reduced role in foreign wars than chose the status quo or a larger role. The disconnect between what this plurality of voters wants and what the government is doing in different parts of the world is as big as it has ever been.

Unfortunately, the survey report frames these results in the crudest terms of “isolationism” vs. engagement. Morning Consult’s pejorative framing of this sentiment as support for “greater isolationism” seems likely to reinforce policymakers’ habits of dismissing public skepticism of U.S. entanglements out of hand. Calling something “isolationism” is never merely descriptive, and it is almost always inaccurate, so whenever it is deployed it is a sign of sloppiness or hostility, or both.

Survey: Americans want to scale back military entanglements

None of this means anything for us mere mortals are not listened to or given any considerations for our concerns.

The involvements will continue until all the profits have been milked out of the situations and then move on to the next sacred cow to be milked.

Your concerns mean NOTHING!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–24Jan22

“Join the Army–Visit beautiful and exotic places and kill the people”

That was a poster and slogan from back in the 60s at protests against war…..

It seems that the US military is offering the one thing that most Americans understand….MONEY.

The problem is declining enlistments…..

Labor shortages aren’t just hitting the private sector during the pandemic. The military has been affected, too, though the US Army is now offering a carrot it hopes will bring in more recruits. An enlistment bonus of up to $50,000—the Army’s biggest ever—is now on the table for newbies who embark on certain career paths and agree to a six-year active-duty enlistment, reports NBC News. “This is an opportunity to entice folks to consider the Army,” Brig. Gen. John Cushing says in a release. The Army hopes to use the financial incentives for jobs that are hard to fill or that it has a special need to fill at the moment, especially those that keep training bases up and running.

In the past, the most a recruit could hope for in terms of a bonus was $40,000. Now, officials have tacked on “critical accession” payments, as well as “quick-ship” bonuses if the recruit agrees to head off to basic training within 90 days. The example the release offers is someone who signs up to be an air and missile defense crew member, which comes with a $40,000 career-based incentive. Currently, that role also comes with a $9,000 critical accession bonus, and if the recruit packs up for basic training within the next 90 days, they can tack on an extra $1,000 quick-ship bonus to reach the $50,000 maximum.

That cap will admittedly be difficult to reach, as it’s for the most elite positions, such as signals intelligence and Special Forces, notes the AP. Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, who heads up the Army’s recruiting division, tells the outlet that recruiters have faced big challenges over the past two years, as the pandemic has prompted school shutdowns—”we lost a full class of young men and women that we didn’t have contact with, face to face”—and a competitive job market that’s been luring young people who might otherwise consider the military.

The Army is counting on greed to fill the ranks….let me ask is that money worth the chance of spending a life trying to recover from PTSD or debilitating wounds?

Is your life worth $50K?

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ten Days in August

After the expenditure of trillions…. Cost of Afghan War: $2.3 trillion on a single war for 20 years the US is pulling out of Afghanistan…..

As they pull their troops the Taleban has started slowly taking control of various parts of the country.

A Return To 1990?

In just 10 days the Taleban has gone from pockets of guerilla fighters to control of the country.

The Afghan president splits the country as the Taleban takes control of the nation….and the Taleban sets about a new government…..

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is being reported as likely president of the new Taliban government, though conflicting reports say former Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali would head a transitional government.

Baradar has been presented as a relatively moderate figure in the Taliban for years, and this likely will make him more palatable than some other hardliners for the world. Baradar also served as a chief negotiator for the Taliban in Doha.

Taliban officials are openly announcing the reestablishment of Afghanistan as an Islamic Emirate and trying to reassure the public about the fate of Kabul.

(antiwar.com)

Kabul has fallen (a great name for an action film) and chaos reins…..

Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Sunday fell to the Taliban, completing the militant group’s takeover of the country so quickly even the Taliban’s co-founder admitted in an evening video statement that the group was surprised at the speed. Hours earlier, the Taliban had entered Kabul as Afghanistan’s president fled. The militants quickly seized the presidential palace, the BBC reports, claiming victory as the government collapsed after the two-decade-long presence of a US-led coalition in the country ended. “The war is over,” a spokesperson declared. More:

  • Chaos: The word is being used in numerous articles about the state of Afghanistan, with residents and foreigners alike reportedly trying to get out; some people reportedly abandoned their cars and fled for the border on foot. A witness at Kabul’s international airport says people were scrambling to get on planes and airport staffers had fled their posts.

Is this just another Vietnam?

SecState Blinken made it clear that it was not….

Blinken claimed “this is manifestly not Saigon.” The secretary of state continued to insist that the U.S. accomplished the goals from when it went into Afghanistan 20 years ago, and he echoed Biden’s statement by saying they were working “with a deadline established by the previous administration to get them out by May 1st.”

Think about that statement for a moment.

He Lied!

20 years…..AQ attacked the US and after about 5 years it had been neutered….so why the next 15 years?

Plus sorry dude but it looks a lot like a repeat of 1975 to me.

Now think about the Afghan army….U.S. military commanders have assured the public they are making progress on the cornerstone of their war strategy: to build a strong Afghan army and police force that can defend the country on their own.

And the manure spreading continued…..“The Afghan forces are better than we thought they were,” Marine Gen. John Allen told Congress in 2012. “The Afghan national security forces are winning,” Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson told reporters in 2014.

What about all that optimism and the cash spent to prepare the Afghans…..

The vast majority of spending in Afghanistan has come from the US.

Between 2010 to 2012, when the US for a time had more than 100,000 soldiers in the country, the cost of the war grew to almost $100bn a year, according to US government figures.

And yet all that cash and training and the Afghan military lasted just 9 days against the onslaught of the Taleban.

So was all that money well spent?

Over the last 20 years, we’ve heard dozens of rationales, justifications and excuses for the US occupation of Afghanistan, all of them now exposed as hollow (or worse). There’s been no “nation-building,” the status of women has not been elevated or protected, the army and security forces have not been “trained” and “modernized,” opium poppy production has not been eradicated, militant groups have not been eliminated, sectarian strife has not lessened, the influence of Pakistan’s ISI has not been blunted. But American contractors and weapons makers have made tens of billions, year after year, for two decades, on long-term, no-bid contracts, many of the companies run by retired officials from the Pentagon and CIA, with little to no oversight or accountability. The Afghan war and occupation was one of history’s longest gravy trains, feeding govt. guaranteed profits to some of the most unsavory operators in the country, as 1000s of Afghans perished, and every time someone tried to stop it, they were shouted down with one word: “terrorism.”

The manure was spread and we now see that it was all BS….so now is the time for some actions as punishment for the LIES spread and the deceptions taken…..

If, after the horrors of this week in Afghanistan, the 4-Starry-eyed generals responsible for this 20-year March of Folly are not held accountable, there will be still worse to come. None were held accountable for the disasters of Vietnam or Iraq, and now the allegedly smart 4-Star Generals and Admirals are – get this – preparing for war with China and Russia.

Hold the Generals Accountable This Time

This war has been a boom for the defense industries….and that is the true story of 20myears in Afghanistan.

Time for answers to all those questions that were lied about in the past…..time for accountability…..and time for this sort of nation-building BS to end and money spent where it is needed…in this COUNTRY!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”