Category Archives: military news

military news

Today we honor our heroes

I consider myself to be one of the luckiest men on Earth, given that I graduated from high school during the height of a bloody war in a faraway land … and lived to talk about it and to build a wonderful life with my family.

Memorial Day is upon us. We will remember those who fell on the field of battle while serving the nation they all loved. We’ll fire up the grills in the yard, play with our children and grandchildren. Some of us might even take a moment to remember outwardly the individuals who deserve our eternal gratitude.

My graduation class included 300 or so young men and women. We received our diplomas during the Summer of Love … which was 1967. The Vietnam War was killing a lot of young Americans at that time. Many of us got our notification that our country needed our service. I was one of them. I reported for induction in August 1968. I finished my basic training and my advanced individual training (as an Army OV-1 Mohawk airplane mechanic), and then I was en route to DaNang, South Vietnam.

One little note before I move on. I was one of those who many referred to as a REMF. The first two letters of the acronym stand for “rear echelon.” I’ll leave the second set of letters for you to figure out. The bad guys would shell us occasionally with mortars and even rockets. My REMF designation, though, did not insulate me from the tragedy of war. I did lose someone I knew to that killing quagmire. He served on an Army UH-1 Huey helicopter crew. When they went into battle, he strapped himself into an M-60 machine gun.

In the summer of 1969, Joe De La Torre scrambled for a flight to take troops to a landing zone. The LZ happened to be “hot” that day. The enemy waited for our ships to arrive. They unloaded all their firepower on our guys. De La Torre died in the firefight.

He became a name inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which opened in 1982. I’ve seen it twice on the DC Mall. De La Torre is one of 58,000-plus names we remember, along with all those who died in all the fights for our freedom we honor today.

As for my Summer of Love graduating class, here’s another stroke of luck. To my knowledge, we didn’t lose anyone from the Parkrose (Ore.) High Class of 1967 to that war. Many of my friends got the call, as I did. They were Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen. My best high school friend served with the Coast Guard and he, too, ended up patrolling the coast of Vietnam. They all came home … and for that I always will be grateful.

Let’s all take time today between bites of brisket and swigs of cold beverage to honor the sacrifice that enables us to enjoy the fruits of our lives.

military news, national news

Stop this ego project!

This item popped up on my Facebook feed this afternoon, and I want to share it with you.

Donald Trump is planning to build a 250-foot golden monument to himself right in front of Arlington National Cemetery, blocking the poignant view from the Lincoln Memorial to the graves of our fallen. After dodging the draft five times, he now wants to force our honored dead into his own shadow. Veterans are already suing to stop this vanity project, and we need your help to back them up.

It came from a group called VoteVets, and they have been pillorying Trump whenever the spirit has moved them. I presume they moved frequently to remind us of Trump’s shameful history with regard to war and peace.

I don’t know where this moron’s ego limits can be found. He slaps his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is building a ballroom where the East Wing of the White House stood for centuries.

Now this. The draft dodger in chief wants to desecrate Arlington National Cemetery with his towering gold image. Good grief! The men and women who are buried at Arlington would spin in their resting places.

Let us recall briefly how Trump has denigrated those who have been wounded in battle, how he refuses to be photographed in their presence. Or how he refused to visit the American military cemetery in Normandy, France, because the rain would have messed up his weirdly coiffed hair. He also declared that those of us who served in Vietnam were “stupid” to do so.

For this clown to erect a statue at Arlington insults the memory of those who had the courage to fight for the nation that Trump seeks to mold into something the heroes wouldn’t recognize.

military news

Trump will have hell to pay

Why in the name of public discourse would your friendly blogger want to revisit an issue he has covered until he turns blue in the face?

Because I believe it demonstrates precisely how we have gotten to this point in Donald Trump’s term in public office.

I have said repeatedly since before Trump became a serious candidate for the only public office he has sought that a candidate for the presidency needs to have some public service experience to understand what “public service” means.

Trump’s entire adult life has been geared toward self-enrichment, self-aggrandizement and fattening his personal wealth. He has earned billions of dollars since being elected POTUS. He has funneled business toward the companies he once ran.

He doesn’t use gentile language when speaking to us as president of the U.S.A. For a POTUS to speak as he did this past Easter tells me in graphic language that this man is a phony Christian, that he doesn’t comprehend what this holiday means to actual Christians. Easter is the holiest, most joyful holiday on our calendar of faith. Yet it fell to Trump to drop an f-bomb when referencing the war against Iran … which he started!

His unfitness for the office he holds tells me everything I need to know about this profoundly immoral POTUS.

military news

Talk to us, Mr. POTUS

Presidents of the United States have a number of unwritten rules they are expected to follow, even though they aren’t inscribed anywhere.

They serve as national comforters, consolers, cheerleaders. They also are required — in a manner of speaking — to explain complicated policy decisions to the people they are elected to serve.

How does Donald J. Trump do on any of those examples? He’s not worth a crap at any of them! I want to focus briefly on the final example.

Trump needs to explain to the American public, his bosses, why he has sent young Americans into battle against Iran. We’ve lost about seven young people already. They were killed in the first days of this air campaign. Trump did receive some of them when their remains were returned to Dover, Del. He hasn’t offered a reason why they died.

Trump has yet to formulate a policy that makes sense. He also hasn’t taken the time to explain his action to an American public that clearly lacks the stomach for another endless war, the kind of conflict Trump pledged he never would enter were he elected in 2024; that pledge helped him secure the victory.

He has tossed that promise into the shitter. He needs to tell us what the hell he’s doing, why he’s doing it and what he expects the nation will gain from it.

A national TV speech would be well worth the time and effort. Mr. POTUS, I and others are waiting for some answers.

military news

What if this were a boxing match?

Try for a moment to consider the conflict between the United States/Israel and Iran to be a boxing match.

I’d be tempted to call it a heavweight fight, except that would be a misnomer. Iran is nowhere near the same class as the United States, let alone a tag team comprising U.S. and Israeli military forces.

Donald Trump says the fight is just about over. Israeli spokespeople say it isn’t. The Israelis want to keep punching. To be honest, I tend to hope that Trump is correct, that the end of this foolishness might be at hand. Will he call a halt, winning by a TKO over a military force that admittedly is formidable, but which is no match for the massive arsenal being launched daily against targets in Iran?

I hope the POTUS is right on this one. Oh wait. I almost forgot that cannot trust a single word that comes from the mouth of the liar in chief.

I guess Trump posesses a puncher’s chance of landing a knockout blow. I do hope it is sooner rather than later.

military news

No way to wage war

The commander in chief of the world’s mightiest military force appears to be conducting a war operation from the overfed seat of his pants.

Therefore, I will assert that is no way to wage war against a determined, fanatical and hardened regime dedicated to destroying the United States of America.

Donald J. Trump is the commander in chief who launched this war against Iran with no apparent end strategy, no apparent stated reason even for going to war in the first place and with a defense secretary who is more interested in bragging about the technology and expertise of the fighting force than he is about the suffering being inflicted on civilians and on the loss of the personnel who have died at the hands of the Iranians.

Donald Trump said yesterday that the war will “end soon,” but didn’t offer any kind of timetable. He demands “unconditional surrrender” from the Iranians. How in the name of surrrendering does he expect the Iranians to wave the white flag and call a halt to the bloodshed inflicted by the United States of America …. aka the Great Satan?

I applaude Trump already for getting rid of Iran’s ayatollah, killing him in the initial round of bombing strikes. Iran installed Ali Khameini’s son as the new imam in chief. The younger Khameini is thought to be even more militant than Daddy Ayatollah!

I just can’t figure out what the hell is going on here. I want the bombing to stop. I strongly oppose sending troops to fight the Iranians on the ground. Trump promised to end the “endless wars.” This conflict could take on the appearace of another endless war if the POTUS isn’t careful.

And we know already about the stunning lack of care and thought Trump puts into any decision he makes.

International news, military news

Chaos reigns at DHS

All righty, kids, here is what I understand has happened in the war with Iran … and make no mistake, we are at war with a nation of 90-plus million individuals who are governed by a group who made “Death to America” a household phrase in the Middle East nation.

Donald Trump sends in air power off the deck of two nuclear-powered air craft carriers. U.S. and Israeli pilots bomb the crap out of Iranian command and control centers. Iran strikes back and already we have service personnel listed as killed in action.

The POTUS trots out his incompetent homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, to lie to us about motives for going to war. Noem spends more time fighting with reporters than answering their questions. Noem is supposedly our go-to Cabinet official, correct?

Then Trump fires Noem. He brings in Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Mullen’s got to go from zero to 150 in an instant.

We have witnessed a prescription for chaos … at precisely the worst time, while we have launched a war with a regional power such as Iran.

I support the removal of Kristi Noem as DHS secretary. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. The brutal truth, though, is this: There could no “good time” to cut her loose. Trump started this war with no clear goal in mind, no exit strategy if we ever achieve that unknown goal, and little support from Americans who are sending their young treasure into battle.

God help us … please!

military news

I’m older, but still confused

There once was a time when I was full of piss and vinegar, and when the United States of America was involved in a faraway war that seemed to have no end in sight.

You know what? I wanted to get into that fight if only to understand why we were fighting it and learn a lesson or two about life in real time. I got my wish and in the spring of 1969 I shipped out to Vietnam. I returned later still confused about what the hell we were doing there.

Bombs were falling and men were dying when I arrived. It all was happening when I returned home.

I’m an old man now. Too old to fight. We’re involved in yet another war, this time with Iran. Donald Trump decided to send in the bombers and, along with Israel, decided to inflict maximum damage to Iranian military command and control.

I am still confused. More so than before. I keep waiting for the POTUS to talk to me and to the nation. He is putting men and women in harm’s way. Some of theÃ¥m have died and the commander in chief has yet to acknowledge openly their deaths. He’s talked about the heavy damage U.S. and Israeli forces are inflicting. He says Iranian air defense is gone, along with its offensive capabilities; he says Iranian leadership in a state of chaos.

But … we have no stated exit strategy. No stated goal. No mention of regime change. Or a change in government. Capt. Bone Spurs declares we could be in this fight for a while.

Why? To what end?

Talk to us, Mr. POTUS. I’ll beseech you once more to simply tell us the truth behind why you have committed our young warriors to a war without an apparent end in sight.

military news

Ayatollah is dead. What now?

Word broke over the weekend that U.S. and Israeli forces launched massive air strikes against Iran, killing the Ayatollah Khameini and several of his family members in the process.

I have been trying like the dickens to wrap my arms around what this means to patriots like you and me.

As an American patriot, I applaud Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu for ordering the strikes on Iran. The ayatollah was a seriously bad man and he needed to be taken out by whatever means necessary. Now, though, come the questions. They are plentiful and they need serious answers.

Presidents cannot declare war unilaterally. The Constitution says Congress must approve any presidential request to go to war. Trump reportedly didn’t consult with anyone on Capitol Hill before launching the attacks on Iran.

Trump won the 2024 election partly by declaring he would end “the endless wars” this nation has fought since 9/11. Have we just committed our sons and daughters in uniform to another endless conflict?

Do we intend to seek a change in regimes in Tehran? The Iranians today reportedly are in a state of confusion over the future of the Islamic Revolution.

Trump seems to have adopted a cavalier attitude about his decision to put our warriors in harm’s way. He is conducting war policy from — gulp! — his golf resort in south Florida. The Situation Room in the White House? Who needs it? Not the current president … apparently!

Iran is no cupcake pushover. It is a country of 90 million people who have lived under the repressive heels of the radicals who stormed to power in 1979 when the shah was tossed out. Khameini’s death was met with joyous celebrations in the United States and across Europe. He had killed thousands of Iranians who had protested their government’s heavy hand.

Now he’s dead and the time has arrived for the president to speak to Americans and explain what the hell he’s going to do now. I know this is a tall order for Donald Trump but — for God’s sake — tell us the truth.

crime news, military news, national news

Impeachment: good for nation

If the midterm election produces the result many millions of us want, I am quite sure we are going to get a needed boost to our constitutional democracy … which has taken a battering for the past year under the heavy hand of Donald J. Trump.

The boost well could come in the form of an impeachment of Trump. Yes, it is going to produce plenty of vicious anger. But I am OK with it. Why? Because we are going to have what I hope is an open debate on the usurping of power we have witnessed in real time since Trump took office in January 2025.

That power grab is in itself grounds for impeaching a president who, in my view, has violated the oath he took when he returned to the Oval Office for a second time.

He wants to censure a sitting U.S. senator for speaking the truth about following — or not following — unlawful orders. Trump wants the Justice Department to investigate the Fed chairman on the pretext that he oversaw cost overruns on remodeling the Federal Reserve Board. Trump has sent military personnel into harm’s way against Venezuela without seeking congressional approval. Trump appointed a U.S. attorney unlawfully to launch investigations into a former FBI director and the attorney general for the state of New York.

And this just happened in 2025, the year that has just passed into history’s dust bin.

Democrats appear poised to regain control of the House. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Senate control could flip, too, when they count the votes for the midterm election.

The debate over the charges that could come forth will be spirited. Probably angry. Maybe even vicious and personal. The Constitution will see us through the pending rough ride.

Our founders built a government that is resilient enough to bend a great deal … without breaking. It is strong enough to endure a presidential impeachment while allowing Congress to do the rest of the work to which the Constitution empowers it.