Category Archives: military news

military news

Relishing the recognition

Oh, how I am relishing the love and respect that comes to veterans these days.

Veterans Day 2021 is about to pass into history, but I have to offer a brief word of thanks to Americans who take the time to express their thanks for the service millions of us have given to the nation.

Why relish this now? In this day and time?

Because I came from an age when it wasn’t always the case. I am a member of the Vietnam War generation. I served for a time in that war zone. I came home and was greeted with … well, what I have called raging indifference. Some of us took the blame for a war policy that went badly. Yes, Americans blamed the warriors for carrying out the lawful — if mistaken — orders from the top of the chain of command.

That is not the case today. For that I am grateful and appreciative of the expressions of thanks I get fairly routinely.

The nation’s collective attitude seemed to change about the time the Persian Gulf War ended in early 1991. It was a brief, but violent conflict. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and took command of that nation’s vast oil reserves. President George H.W. Bush declared the occupation of Kuwait “will not stand.” President Bush ordered the mustering of a half-million troops in the region.

Then we launched air attacks against Iraq. Then the troops rolled into Kuwait. We took control of the country after just a few days. Then our troops came home to the kind of welcome we hadn’t seen since the end of World War II.

They were victorious! They accomplished their mission. We were proud of them. Who led the national cheering? Vietnam War veterans organizations were instrumental in that effort. I am proud of the work they put in to welcome home the men and women who liberated Kuwait.

The love and respect has continued as we have welcome troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thus, Veterans Day has become the kind of celebration that our veterans have deserved all along.

Thank you, America.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Veterans Day story for the ages

I want to share a story about a particular U.S. Army veteran, a man I did not know, but who is a dearly beloved member of my family.

His name was George Filipu. He was my grandfather, Mom’s dear, sweet father. I was born in December 1949. My Papou and my Yiayia came to meet me when I was about three weeks old. He died later that day of a heart attack. Note: I want to refer them by the Greek terms for “grandfather” and “grandmother.” 

But when he first arrived in the United States in the early 1900s, he and my Yiayia got married. In November 1918, he decided he wanted to enlist in the Army. At that time U.S. immigration policy granted instant citizenship to non-citizens who wanted to serve in the military.

Papou wanted to serve, so he joined the Army because he wanted to get into the fight in Europe; I refer to World War I.

Then something happened for the betterment of the planet: they signed an armistice and the fighting stopped. Papou’s military service was cut short.

However, because of the policy that granted him citizenship, he was able to maintain his American citizen status. I want to add that, according to stories handed down by Mom and her brothers Phil and Jim, Papou wore his pride in his new country on his sleeve as well as in his heart.

He and Yiayia loved this country beyond measure. They never returned to the “old country.” Yiayia in particular refused to return, saying, in effect, “This is my home and this is where I will remain.”

Yiayia lived a long life after Papou died. She passed away on the Fourth of July 1978. We are certain she chose that day to leave this world because (a) she loved this country deeply and (b) she wanted to make sure we would remember it.

My Papou, George Filipu was willing to fight for the country that he, too, loved. He was a proud U.S. Army veteran.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

He was my favorite veteran

My favorite veteran would have turned 100 this past May. He never saw his 60th birthday … and I remember him with great fondness.

That is him in the picture. He is the sailor standing at the door, guarding it with a British Royal Marine. I should tell you that the room on the other side of the door contained the Allied naval commander in the Mediterranean and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

My favorite veteran, of course, is my dad Pete Kanelis.

Dad imbued in me a love of country. He was a true-blue patriot. It was his country, right or wrong. He went to war for the nation that welcomed his parents to its shores at the turn of the 20th century. My grandparents came to America not knowing a word of English; they spoke Greek in the home. Dad didn’t learn English until he went to school in Pittsburgh, Pa.; he told me his first day ended when he ran home crying because he couldn’t understand what anyone was saying.

He learned the language.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Dad was sitting at home in Portland, Ore., listening on the radio to reports of what happened that morning in Hawaii. He was a 20-year-old college student. Dad left the house, took a bus downtown and went to the armed forces recruiting station intending to enlist in the Marine Corps; the USMC office was closed. He walked across the hall to join the Navy … on the very day we were attacked by Japanese forces.

My favorite veteran reported for duty several weeks later as the nation mobilized to fight the tyrants in Europe and Asia. He went to Navy boot camp for three weeks and then shipped out to England.

Dad saw combat in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. He swam for his life after an Italian dive bomber sank his ship in the Med. Dad participated in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, landing at Salerno in 1943.

His Navy career ended in the Philippines, where he was staging for an invasion of Japan. President Truman then decided to drop The Bomb on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. The war ended. Dad came home. He married my mother. He welcome me into the world in late 1949; the first of my two sisters came along in March 1951, while the youngest of us arrived in April 1957.

He didn’t volunteer much about what he did during The War. However, he would talk about it when someone asked.

He was part of what they call The Greatest Generation. He answered the call to duty, he did his duty, then he came home and got on with the rest of his life. If only it hadn’t ended so early.

He is my favorite veteran and I honor his service to the nation he loved beyond measure … while honoring as well all of those who wore the nation’s uniform.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Thank a veteran; they appreciate the love

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In recent years I have been more vocal in thanking veterans I recognize when I see them.

You can spot a vet when he or she is wearing a “gimme cap” that declares their status as a veteran. I especially do so when I see someone wearing a World War II or Korean War veteran cap. Why? The answer is obvious: they are getting quite old.

I don’t see many WWII vets these days, given their dwindling numbers. The last vet from that era I saw, I thanked him “for saving the world from tyranny.” He responded with something that suggested he had little to do with the fight. I offered my thanks once again and told him, “You deserve all the thanks that should come your way.” He smiled, shook my hand and didn’t say another word.

Sixteen million Americans suited up to fight tyranny and oppression during World War II. Last I heard there are about 500,000 (or fewer) of them alive today. The Korean War broke out five years after the end of World War II, so those vets are quite long in the tooth as well.

Veterans Day is approaching. I intend to go out of my way to thank every single vet I see that day and will dedicate myself to thanking them until they plant me into the ground.

As for Vietnam War veterans, my standard greeting to them is a simple “Welcome home,” which those of us who served in that conflict have come to appreciate. We didn’t get that kind of welcome when we came home from Southeast Asia.

So there you go. If you see a veteran, extend a word of thanks. I know for a fact they appreciate hearing it. Don’t stop doing so when Veterans Day comes to an end.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Happy Oxhi Day!

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OK, I’ll set you straight.

For those who don’t know what “Oxhi” means, it’s the Greek word for “no.” I have provided a rough translation from the Greek.

Oxhi Day is celebrated in Greece, the land of my ancestry, from where my grandparents emigrated near the turn of the 20th century. It’s a day that commemorates an episode in Greek history in which the country stood up to a superior military power and proceeded to kick the stuffing out of it.

On Oct. 28, 1940, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini — who was Adolf Hitler’s hapless ally in the effort to conquer the world — issued an ultimatum to the Greek prime minister, a fellow named John Metaxas. It went something like this: Allow the Italian armed forces to use Greek ports to wage war in Africa across the Mediterranean, or else we’re going to take them over by force.

Metaxas issued a stern answer: “Oxhi!” he said. Mussolini then launched an invasion of Greece from neighboring Albania, which the Italians had already conquered.

The Greek army let the Italian forces enter the country. Then they cut them off at the border and proceeded to slaughter them in the Pindus Mountains. The Greeks, led by the elite Evzone mountain fighters, then drove the Italians out of Greece and back into Albania, where the fighting stalled. Eventually, in April 1941, Hitler decided to rescue the Italians by invading Greece; he conquered the country after fierce fighting.

To Greeks, this is a big deal, as it should be. Mussolini had delusions of grandeur while he sidled up as Hitler’s key European ally. Except that the Italians couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. The Greek army was supposedly ill-equipped to handle the machinery that the Italians brought to the fight. They did, however, possess plenty of willpower in the effort to prevent Mussolini from conquering Greece.

And so it went. The Greeks had to endure three years of Nazi tyranny before driving them out of the country near the end of the fighting. The Greek resistance was among the fiercest in all of Europe.

Yes, I am a proud American of Greek descent. Happy Oxhi Day … everyone!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Back off … chumps!

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There’s something off-putting about watching politicians grill battle-hardened military men in search of what I consider to be cheap political points.

That’s what I saw today as three distinguished warriors sat before a Senate committee to be questioned about their role in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Let me be clear about a key point. I subscribe wholly to the notion that civilian authority must remain central to the conduct of our military policy. However, when I watch politicians seek to dress down men of valor, well … it turns me off.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a former Army four-star general, was one of the targets of the chumps serving on the Senate panel; so was Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; same for Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commanding officer of Central Command, which has coordinates all military activity in Afghanistan and the surrounding region.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, sought to get Milley to admit whether he spoke to authors of books that have looked critically at the last days of the Donald Trump administration. Milley answered “yes” that he had spoken to the authors. Blackburn then asked whether he supported what they wrote. Milley said he hasn’t read any of the books.

That wasn’t good enough for Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, who then asked whether Milley was too busy being interviewed by the likes of Bob Woodward and Robert Costa to pay attention to the details of the Afghan War withdrawal. Hawley, ever the showman, then demanded that Milley and Austin resign their posts.

Ridiculous!

All three of these men have served their country with honor, valor and distinction. Milley has taken heat because of reporting in the book “Peril” that he gave his counterpart in China a heads up in the event of a potential attack by the United States in the waning days of the Trump administration. Good grief! He acted nobly as he sought to protect the United States against potential catastrophe!

Politics fuels everything these days. Hawley wants to run for president. He wants to make waves within the GOP so he takes this opportunity to question the integrity of genuine Americans heroes.

Disgusting.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news, national news

Gen. Milley acted correctly

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If we are to believe the reporting of two world-class journalists — and I do — about the chaotic final days of the Trump administration, then we also can believe that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff perceived that the president posed an existential threat to our very nation.

Bob Woodward and Robert Costa have written a book titled “Peril.” They chronicle how the 45th president of the United States sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election that delivered Joe Biden to the presidency.

One of the many episodes they chronicle involves Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, who believed the POTUS was capable of starting a nuclear war with China. What did Milley do, according to Woodward and Costa? He called his counterpart in Beijing to warn him of what he feared might happen.

As you might expect, Republicans are hollering “treason!” and suggest that Milley went outside the chain of command. They are calling for his resignation, or his arrest and conviction by court martial. The Constitution does declare that civilians set military policy.

I do not believe Gen. Milley committed a treasonous act. He did the right thing. He perceived that the sociopathic narcissist who had lost a free and fair election was capable of doing immense harm to this country and, apparently in Milley’s eyes, to the entire planet.

Milley aimed to head off a presidential effort to cling to power by any means necessary.

Truth be told … I cannot fault Gen. Milley for that.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

military news

Rumor hot spots keep flaring

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As the United States moves into a post-war world now that it has pulled out of Afghanistan, the Biden administration is left to extinguish right-wing-generated rumor-mill hot spots.

Such as the one about us supposedly leaving $83 billion worth of military equipment for the Taliban to use, possibly against Americans or our allies.

The rumor is false.

That won’t stem the fake news coming from the mouths of conservative politicians and media personalities. They keep harping on the equipment left behind. They suggest that the Taliban is now the second-best equipped military force in the world — behind the U.S. of A.

According to The Associated Press:

Their $85 billion figure resembles a number from a July 30 quarterly report from SIGAR, which outlined that the U.S. has invested about $83 billion to build, train and equip Afghan security forces since 2001.

Yet that funding included troop pay, training, operations and infrastructure along with equipment and transportation over two decades, according to SIGAR reports and Dan Grazier, a defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight.

“We did spend well over $80 billion in assistance to the Afghan security forces,” Grazier said. “But that’s not all equipment costs.”

In fact, only about $18 billion of that sum went toward equipping Afghan forces between 2002 and 2018, a June 2019 SIGAR report showed.

FACT FOCUS: Trump, others wrong on US gear left with Taliban (msn.com)

Is that the end of it? Hardly. It only goes to underscore the public-relations battle that awaits the Biden team as it tries to keep this withdrawal in its proper perspective.

military news

Rep. Gaetz pops off

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who’s under investigation for alleged sex trafficking and for having sex with underage girls, needs to put a sock in his pie hole.

He has called Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin possibly “the stupidest person to ever serve in a presidential Cabinet.” Gaetz tore into the retired four-star Army general for decisions he made while he was in charge of Central Command and as defense secretary.

Gaetz, a Florida Republican, is known primarily for two things: for being a loudmouth and a blowhard and for being an unabashed supporter of the disgraced and twice-impeached former Liar in Chief.

One more point.

Gaetz has challenged the integrity and the honor of the first African-American ever to hold the office of defense secretary. Lloyd Austin served with honor and dignity during nearly 40 years wearing the military uniform.

What about Gaetz’s service to the country? Has he thrust himself into harm’s way?

Umm … no.

military news

What if he had stayed?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden has his hands full trying to fend off Republican critics of his decision to end our military involvement in Afghanistan.

It begs a critical question.

What if Joe Biden had decided once he took office that we needed to stay there? Or had he decided to bring more troops onto the field of battle? And then we would have sustained casualties while the fighting raged on?

Do you suppose that would have made those sitting in the GOP peanut gallery happy? Hah! Not even, man.

They would have accused him of reneging on his predecessor’s pledge to “end the useless war” in Afghanistan.

Yes, we have a mess on our hands. I am going to give President Biden the benefit of the doubt — although it’s not an endless benefit — that he can fix this evacuation crisis.

As for the criticism he is receiving for ending our conflict, he is being damned for doing the right thing.