Category Archives: military news

military news

What does Hegseth mean?

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Let us take a quick peek into the shallow mind of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the nimrod who keeps telling us that Iran has been dealt a blow that renders its armed forces “combat ineffective.”

Recall that Donald Trump recruited Hegseth off the Fox and Friends Weekend couch to lead the Pentagon. Hegseth has zero qualifications to serve as defense secretary. Except for one thing. He is blindly loyal to Trump.

Accordingly, when Trump declares complete victory over Iran in this idiotic war of choice, Hegseth follows the liar in chief straight into the crapper. He bought Trump’s desire to refer to the Pentagon chief as the “war secretary,” and calls his department the “Department of War.” What a bunch of crap!

So, when Hegseth keeps repeating the lie about Iran being rendered defenseless against our bombs and missiles, I am left to wonder: How in the hell do the Iranians keep firing missiles at targets in the Strait of Hormuz? We were told the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes “obliterated” Iran’s military. Isn’t that the case?

While we keep bombing Iran, and they keep firing back at us, the price of oil continues to skyrocket, forcing huge inflationary pressure on the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. Hegseth is silent about all of that, as is the dipshit in chief.

As a veteran who has served in a war zone for my country, I consider Pete Hegseth to be unworthy of any form of respect his office should demand. He is a disgrace.

local news, military news

Ready to accept ‘honor’ of grateful nation

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Fewer than seven days to go and soon it will be flaps as 44 fellow veterans and I take off from Love Field for an “Honor Flight” designed to thank those who wore the uniform while serving our great land.

Please accept my brutal candor here. It took me some time to consider this a trip worth making. Why is that?

Well, I wasn’t sure a brief sprint through some of our nation’s hallowed memorials and monuments was worth the effort. Time also was a factor. Honor Flights leave in the morning of Day One and return the evening of Day Two.

As time marched on, I kept hearing reports from other veterans who have declared the event one of the highlights of their lives. Hmm, I thought: Well, if it means so much to so many of these veterans, then perhaps there’s more than meets the eye on these honor flights.

The vets who return talk of the immense respect they collect from strangers they encounter while touring the DC Mall memorials. You know, this might be all that it is cracked up to be.

The older veterans on this trip saw service in the Vietnam Era. Many of us actually reported for duty in the war zone. I will exempt myself from in any discussion of combat experience in Vietnam. I was a REMF. The acronym stands for Rear Echelon … you can assemble the rest of what the letters spell out.

And although I didn’t get the “baby killer” epithet or other hostile language, I did receive the cold shoulder from strangers –and, yes, even a few friends — when I mentioned my time in the war zone.

These Honor Flights are an effort to tell us that the nation is sorry for the way it treated us when we got home and to thank all those who wore the uniform that the nation is proud of them.

Six more days of prep — emotional and physical — are on tap for this ol’ geezer. I am looking forward to this whirlwind.

military news, national news

We haven’t won anything yet … Donald

Donald J. Trump keeps heaping superlatives on our war with Iran, such as declaring complete victory, saying we have accomplished all we intended to do when we went to war more than six months ago.

The only thing he hasn’t done is land aboard an aircraft carrier and emerge under a huge “Mission Accomplished” sign.

Hmmm. We know why, I reckon. It’s because Trump must know in its private self what many of the rest of us know, which is that Iranians haven’t yet lost the war. Trump went to war without explaining how it would end, or what he intended to accomplish. He has done not a damn thing to unite the nation behind this feckless effort.

Still, POTUS 47 continues to boast — along with his defense department blowhard/mouthpiece Pete Hegseth — that the Iranians have been rendered “combat ineffective for years to come.” Hegseth even has declared the Iranians have been rendered defenseless against U.S. forces “for decades.”

Someone needs to explain to me why we continue to have forces on duty against Iran if we already have accomplished all we have intended.

Oh, wait. I almost forgot. Trump is lying about it all.

local news, military news

What if Trump shows up … ?

Two weeks from takeoff from Love Field and I am beginning to run some things through my noggin and I should vanquish them … because none of them could actually take place.

Then again …

I am leaving on Sept. 11 for an overnight trip to Washington, D.C. I will be one of 45 veterans taking part in an Honor Flight, an event devised to salute military veterans for the service they gave to the country. I served for two years in the Army, from 1968 until 1970. I was sent to Vietnam for a time to work on airplanes and then assigned to the tactical operations center in Da Nang.

I came home and was greeted mostly with shrugs from friends. I didn’t get any “thank you for your service” greetings from strangers. That’s all changed. No longer do we treat service personnel as being at fault for our planners’ failures.

Honor Flights are designed to demonstrate a nation’s gratitude. Some of us on this trip are old enough to remember how we were treated when we completed our service in S.E. Asia.

OK, now about those thoughts.

Our trip coincides with the 25th year since the 9/11 attack by terrorists. My thought involves the four former presidents of the United States, all of whom should be honored for the work they did to bring the terrorist in chief, Osama bin Laden, to justice.

Will any of these men be around to greet us, or to receive our thanks for their service to the country? That’s what I am hoping will happen. Furthermore, I have a bit shared history with one of these gentlemen. I met then Texas Gov. George W. Bush in a personal 90-minute session I had with him in the summer of 1995. I have been hoping to see him again and remind him of that meeting and hope he remembers me.

The 9/11 attacks occurred during the first year of his time as president.

Barack Obama was on duty when the SEALs found bin Laden in May 2011. I have seen viral videos of him greeting veterans on earlier Honor Flights. Maybe he can find some time to do it again. Bill Clinton felt bin Laden’s wrath in 2000 when al-Qaeda terrorists blew a hole into the Navy destroyer USS Cole. Joe Biden was in the Situation Room as vice president the night of the SEAL raid. The former 46th president is ill with cancer, so I don’t expect to see him … but I would love to shake his hand and thank him for his 50 years of public service.

That brings us to the current president. What if he makes an appearance? My gut struggles with my brain. I detest the guy who is in office now. I respect and revere the office he occupies. What would I do if were standing in front of me? I would shake his hand … and that’s all I will say about that.

Will any of this occur? Probably not. I just wanted to let you know once again that am taking part in this Honor Flight with great pride and thanks of my own.

military news

Trump wants to do … what?

What in the name of betrayal has invaded Donald Trump’s vacuous skull? I heard this today and I cannot to this very moment actually believe it.

I understand that Trump, following the advice of his morally unfit defense secretary, is considering taking back a decision to name a battle carrier after a Black enlisted man who performed acts of heroism during the attack by Japanese aircraft at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.

The hero’s name was Doris Miller, born in Waco, Texas, in 1919. He died in combat in 1943.

When the attack at Pearl occurred, Miller was stationed aboard the USS West Virginia, where he served as a mess attendant. During the bombardment, the captain of Miller’s ship was mortally wounded. Miller rushed to the aid of his skipper, evacuated him to safety, then manned an anti-aircraft gun — on which he had zero training — and fired at the aircraft until he ran out of ammo.

For his action, Miller was honored posthumously with his name being attached to a newly commissioned carrier.

Now comes the despicable part of this brief tale. Trump is considering taking Miller’s name off the ship and putting his own name on the new warship. Imagine the gall, the unmitigated hubris of a sitting POTUS — who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War — acting in such a disgraceful manner.

I should note that a fellow Texan, Admiral of the Navy Chester Nimitz, awarded Miller the Navy Cross in May 1942, making him the first Black sailor ever to receive such an honor. Miller, by the way, was credited with shooting down one of the Japanese planes, but eyewitness accounts say he may have shot down four to six enemy planes.

Miller might not get the honor of a ship carrying his name, if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has his way. Hegseth already has shown astonishing contempt for Black service personnel by firing Black flag officers and denying women their rightful promotions up the ranks.

I swear to Almighty God in heaven that Donald Trump’s needs to be impeached a third time by the House of Repesentatives and then given the boot by the U.S. Senate if he follows through with this disgraceful act.

military news

Sappiness to get stern test

A word comes to you from little ol’ me, who I have described as arguably one of the world’s biggest saps.

It’s my sappiness that I want to bring to your attention. In a sort of perverse way, I am rather proud of the tendency to let my emotions show to all the world to see.

It will occur on Sept. 11. I will board jetliner at Love Field in Dallas and will fly with 40-something military veterans to Washington, D.C. We will attend an Honor Flight, which is a lightning visit to D.C. We will arrive around noon on Sept. 11 and will return to North Texas the next day. Twenty-fours in and out, there and back. It’s going to be action-packed.

We’re going to visit several memorials in D.C. dedicated to veterans. We’re going to have volunteer companions who will act as our go-to men and women. They will be there to tend to our every need, request or whatever.

Where will the sappiness occur? What might bring it to the fore? We are likely to be given thanks, high praise and many of us will be reminded that during our time in service the nation didn’t respond to vets’ service in the same manner that many of our veterans are receiving today.

I served briefly in Vietnam while war was still raging. I didn’t serve in a combat unit. Indeed, I have spent nearly 60 years telling anyone who cares to know that I did damn little during my time there. None of that will matter to the folks who will show us around in quick-step fashion during our visit to the nation’s capital.

So, I suppose I could predict that I’ll be caught up in the good wishes and expressions of thanks and pride I rarely got when I came home for keeps in the summer of 1970.

I’ll be sure to have a hanky handy … just in case I need it. My history of sappiness tells me I will need it.

military news

Where is concern for our troops … Donald?

A sailor jumps off the USS Abraham Lincoln, floats at sea for an hour before he’s rescued.

The Lincoln is at sea for a record-breaking 240 days and the galley is running out of food to feed the 5,000 crew members aboard the massive warship.

Morale is being reported at the lowest ebb possible.

What does the commander in chief have to say about it? He said another carrier, the USS George Washington is en route to replace the Abraham Lincoln and then made some comment that the crew hadn’t spent “nearly enough” time at sea.

Donald Trump keeps feigning support for the men and women who serve in the world’s mightiest and most lethal fighting force in world history. His actions, his statements and his posture betray all of that concern.

Remember that this is the individual who once referred to those who wear the uniform as “suckers and losers.” I cannot let this go.

This moron in chief has no business commanding this fighting force. It is on a mission that no one has defined. There is no plan to end this war with Iran that Trump has boasted has already been won; if the war has been won, as Trump has bragged, then what in the hell are we still doing out there?

I once took part briefly in an unwinnable war. We weren’t all fighting for God and country in Vietnam. Many of us sought mainly to survive, to return home to our loved ones and start building our lives. Trump only worsens the lives of our warriors by blathering the cruelty that spews from his overfed mouth.

The men and women who are fighting a war with no end in sight need the complete respect from the individual who has sent them into battle. Donald Trump needs to keep his trap shut.

military news

Self goes gung-ho on Iran

Keith Self spoke recently to the Farmersville Rotary Club, proclaiming he didn’t have a formal program from which he would speak on this or that.

But the Republican member of Congress who represents Collin County had a good bit to say about a few of the hot topics of the day. The Iran war was one of them and, to be honest, he disappoints me terribly as I learn about his views on Donald Trump declaring war on Iran and then proceeding to seek to bomb it into oblivion. During his talk to the Farmersville Rotary Club, Self could have taken a moment to discuss a still-undetermined exit strategy for ending the Iran war. He could have discussed whether we should pay to rebuild the civilian infrastructure our missiles and bombs have destroyed. He might have talked about how to open the Strait of Hormuz, which was wide open until we started bombing Iran; the strait is where a huge bulk of Iranian oil goes to fuel industries around the world.

Oh, no. He didn’t go there. Instead, he invoked the memory of the late Sen. George Aikin, a Vermont Republican, who said in the 1960s that we could end the Vietnam War by “declaring victory and then just go home.”

Self, a native of Amarillo, graduated from West Point and then became a U.S. Army Ranger. He saw plenty of combat during his 25 years in uniform. I had hope his combat experience would make him a bit more circumspect about sending young Americans into harm’s way to fight a nation of some 90 million residents and with a substantial army and air force.

Instead, Self, came off a bit cavalier about going to war. He was asked about the Iran war in Farmersville. He said Trump should “call for a pause in the action, work real hard” to ensure the GOP retains control of Congress after the midterm election, after which “he could go back in and finish the job.”

That was it, kids. I would call that a “gung-ho” response. If only Rep. Self would react to what many of us out here in the middle of America know … which is that there is little appetite for war against Iran, especially a war launched by a feckless POTUS who has yet to tell us precisely what the hell we’re doing fighting a war he said he never would impose.

 

military news

War president, my ass!

Donald Trump calls himself a “war president,” to which I say plainly, clearly and without apology: my ass!

To be fair, Trump isn’t the first POTUS to never have worn the uniform, but he needs to follow the lead blazed by men who have worn it and who have acted with considerable reluctance to commit men and women to battle.

I am thinking at this moment of seven such men. Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter have entered my mind. TR saw combat during the Spanish-American War, Ike was supreme Allied commander of forces in Europe during World War II, “Give ‘Em Hell” Harry saw combat in WWI. JFK served as a combat naval officer in the Pacific during WWII. GHW Bush was a naval aviator in the Pacific and was shot down by Japanese gunners. Jimmy Carter graduated from the Naval Academy and served on nuclear submarines.

Three Republicans and three Democrats all saw war as the same hideous endeavor. No partisanship entered their discussions about warfare.

Yet now we have Trump. He evaded service during the Vietnam War. He has referred to those who served there as “losers and suckers.” Thanks, Donald. I’m one of ’em. He has instructed his staff to avoid showing him in the presence of wounded warriors.

He promised the nation he would avoid future wars. He broke that pledge by launching the war against Iran. Eighteen Americans have died — so far! — in that war.

This individual has zero understanding of the cost of man’s most insane act.

military news

Trump ruins a presidential act

Donald Trump today performed a supreme presidential act by going to Dover, Del., to receive the remains of three American service personnel who died in our nation’s Iran war.

Then he ruined the moment by lying about what he said was coursing through the souls of these valiant American servicemen and women. He said all of them “said that Iran should not have nuclear weapons.”

My first reaction was one of horror. How in this war-ravaged world does the commander in chief know what fallen warriors believed to be right about the war that Trump started for reasons to be revealed? How in the name of God Almighty can he pretend to make such a declaration?

He doesn’t know and he cannot possibly speak for these brave warriors … because he made it up!

Allow me to speak briefly for the millions of Americans who have gone to war for our country. There could not possibly be unanimous in support for the policy that sends them to war. There damn sure wasn’t in 1969 when I reported for duty as part of an Army aviation unit at Marble Mountain, Da Nang, South Vietnam. I was confused about the war. My beliefs about the correctness of the policy we were following to prosecute that war were still forming. By the time I returned home in 1970, those feelings became clear: I opposed the Vietnam War.

I strongly believe such is the case now, decades later, with young Americans being ordered to do battle with an adversary. And yet, Trump decided in this moment of grief and mourning to put words into the mouths of young Americans he didn’t know and declare that they support his policy of going to war with no clear strategy for conducting it … and no idea of how to end it.