Category Archives: military news

military news

What about the oath?

Every so often I spend part of my day at home watching YouTube of news events, many of which involve the president of the United States acting in his role as commander in chief.

I saw one the other day and it compels me to share something that President Obama said while awarding the Medal of Honor to a Navy SEAL. He said the special forces that operate in all our military branches adhere to a code that says they shouldn’t seek attention or glory for the actions they perform in defense of our country. They operate in the shadows, he said, eschewing the limelight.

The comments drew me immediately to the conduct of a SEAL who took part in the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The individual apparently didn’t adhere to the special forces vow to remain anonymous.

Oh, no. Instead, this fellow decided to make a big deal out of what he said happened that night in Pakistan when SEALs and their Army pilots landed in the compound where bin Laden was hiding. This guy claimed to have fired the shots that killed bin Laden. He’s written a book about it. He’s appeared on TV talk shows to tell the world about what he said he did.

The young man who received the Medal of Honor from President Obama is what is described as a “special warfare operator.” Obama made the point that the fellow, who’s now retired from the Navy, would rather be anywhere else in the world than at the White House surrounded by officials, well-wishers and TV cameras.

That’s the way heroes roll. They do their job at great risk to their own safety. Then they go home. They await the next order to suit up and deploy into harm’s way.

The SEAL to seemingly boast about his role in taking out bin Laden only cheapens what went down that moonless night in Pakistan. I just wish he would have kept his trap shut.

International news, military news

Settle down, Donald!

Donald Trump simply must learn — even at his advanced age of 79 — to settle down when plans don’t go quite as he envisioned or as he boasted after the fact.

Trump ordered the Air Force to strike at Iran’s military complex. He sent the B-2 stealth bombers thousands of miles to the target, where they dropped about a dozen bunker-buster bombs aimed at destroying Iranian nuclear installations.

After the mission, which was completed with no U.S. casualties — thank God! — Trump announced the installations had been “obliterated.”

Wait! Not so fast, according to U.S. intelligence analysts. They tell us the sites weren’t destroyed. They suffered heavy damage and work on the weapons likely was set back several months.

Trump’s response was to dismiss the findings. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also stands by the obliterated declaration.

All of this has me scratching my noggin. Maybe the bunker busters’ lethality is overrated? Maybe the Iranians knew about their presence in our arsenal and ensured their installations would be heavily protected?

Trump is still able to claim a success. The mission went off without a hitch. The bombers and their fighter escorts all got home safely. At the very least, the Iranians know that the leader of the Great Satan is unafraid to deploy massive military might, never mind the cost politically at home and around the world.

As for the assessments on the damage done … we have plenty of intelligence eyes and ears on the ground to get to the whole truth. No need for the commander in chief to peddle overheated falsehoods about whether our bombers obliterated the Iranian nuclear capacity.

military news, national news

One and done? Hah … !

Donald J. Trump no doubt is hoping for a “one and done” bombing mission against Iran’s nuclear weapons project.

He likely won’t get it. Instead, Iran is vowing to strike back at U.S. interests and most certainly against Israel. The question for Trump then becomes: What shall this country’s follow-up entail? More air strikes? Boots on the ground?

I am suspicious of Trump’s decision to send the B-2 bombers over Iran. I join him in praising the skill and precision exhibited by the aviators who carried out the mission. They dropped about a dozen bunker buster bombs weighing about 30,000 pounds apiece. Submarines launched Tomahawk missiles at the nuclear targets once the aircraft had completed their mission.

I do not want the United States to go to war against Iran. Under no circumstances should we commit our forces to fighting an enemy dedicated to our destruction, not to mention the destruction of Israel … which began this conflict some days ago with missile and drone attacks against the Iranian nuclear sites.

The political consequences of this event are staggering. Democrats in Congress say Trump has committed an impeachable offense by acting without prior consultation with Congress, which they say is spelled out in the Constitution. They are joined by the MAGA mob that says Trump campaigned for election on the promise to end “endless wars.” Spoiler alert: Don’t wait for the MAGA morons to join an impeachment movement against Trump.

These are dangerous times, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve been through them before. I could blow this off as a one-and-done deal, except that with the current POTUS, one never — not ever! — can predict what he’ll do.

military news

Hegseth: a disgrace to the military

Pete Hegseth’s smirking responses to serious questions from members of Congress only serve to remind many millions of us what a horrifying choice Donald Trump made in selecting him as our secretary of defense.

Trump plucked Hegseth from the weekend TV talk show ranks to put him in charge of managing the most lethal military force in human history. Hegseth entered his new job with myriad issues: questions over how he treats women; alleged drug and alcohol abuse on the job; his blatant politicization of every issue that comes across his radar; his lack of experience running an agency of any size, let alone one as massive as the Department of Defense.

Yet there he is. He lectures members of Congress on how they should conduct themselves while questioning his policy decisions. Hegseth actually has smirked and snarked his way through answers from the likes of U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who lost both legs while flying for the U.S. Army in combat in the Middle East.

I get that Hegseth earned his spurs as a weekend co-host on “Fox and Friends,” where he made a handsome living poking fun at politicians’ policies. As I watch him answer questions from House members and senators, I am struck by the perception that he still sees himself in that former role.

The dude needs to take his new gig far more seriously than he does at the moment. He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chief of Naval Operations. He has yet to hire a new top sailor. When asked if an appointment is coming, all he can offer is a bland “I’ll make that decision due course.” What the hell … ?

We are in the midst of a potentially deadly crisis in the Middle East and Trump’s version of the “best people” in the Pentagon doesn’t have a clue as to what he must do to keep us all safe.

Trump keeps vowing to surround himself with “the best people.” He wants us to believe Pete Hegseth is the best person he could find to run the Pentagon?

military news

The MAGA morons are right! Who knew?

Never in a zillion years would I have imagined saying what I am about to say … which is that the MAGA cabal that powered Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency are correct to object to any direct American involvement in the dispute between Israel and Iran.

This dispute inside the Republican Party is an amazing thing to witness. Trump campaigned for the presidency vowing to end our involvement in wars seemingly without end. Yet now he is pondering whether to launch air strikes against Iran with the aim of destroying the country’s capability to develop nuclear weapons.

Which is the reason why Israel hit them hard in the first place!

Some Republicans are lobbying Trump to launch the strikes. The MAGA crowd says Trump would break a key campaign promise by doing so. The MAGA goons are right! Can you believe I just said that? Neither can I.

Israel already has plenty of military capability to defend itself against Iran. It also has the know-how to strike military targets. The mission that began this exchange was years in the planning and the Israeli Defense Force decided the time is right now to hit the Iranians hard. So, it did.

Not only did the Israeli air force strike hardened targets, it managed to kill key Iranian military leaders it had identified.

Trump said he will decide within two weeks whether to launch strikes that could include huge bunker-buster bombs that only the United States can deploy.

Where does it end? How do we get out of such an engagement? And how many young American lives might we lose in this effort?

Listen to your political base, Donald Trump. They are correct!

military news

Trump’s parade falls flat

Well, kids, it turns out Donald J. Trump didn’t get nearly the birthday wish he wanted for himself with the military parade through Washington, DC, falling flat on its face.

I intend to explore briefly why that happened.

First of all, it well might be that most Americans finally — finally! — have caught on to Trump’s inauthentic and insincere reverence for the military. He evaded being drafted during the Vietnam War, citing those mysterious bone spurs. Now he’s commander in chief of the world’s mightiest military, so he wanted to stage a parade that coincidentally fell on his 79th birthday.

He said he wanted to salute the Army’s 250th birthday. You and I know the real reason. He wanted to call attention to himself. And that, I suggest, likely didn’t get past the hundreds of thousands of no-show Americans who stayed away from the event.

Trump reportedly lashed out at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the failure of the parade. No problem there. Hegseth can’t find his ass with both hands as he tries to run the Pentagon. The failure of this event goes far beyond Hegseth’s incompetence. It goes straight to the guts of the man at the top.

Trump only recently said he cannot stand the sight of wounded warriors and said he didn’t want them present for presidential photo ops. He called a Vietnam War hero, the late Sen. John McCain, a loser because he got captured — and was tortured — by the enemy. He has denigrated a Gold Star family because they are Muslim and even though the couple’s son died in combat wearing an Army uniform.

The parade was the kind of thing seen in Moscow or Pyongyang. Except that it never materialized in anything approaching the manner that Donald Trump envisioned.

I am going to hope for all my worth that Americans finally are awakening to the charade that the president of the U.S.A. has been leading.

military news, national news

When these men speak …

When men of the caliber of several general-grade military officers speak with one voice about the conduct of the commander in chief, it is time to take heed.

They all say essentially the same thing about Donald Trump. That he doesn’t honor the office he occupies and is embarking on a dangerous path toward a dictatorship.

Former Marine Gens. John Kelly and James Mattis, former Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, former Army Gen. Martin Dempsey all speak with a single voice. Mattis said Trump is purposely seeking to divide the nation. Kelly said we need to gauge who we elect as president on the basis of his character. Mullen said he has been reluctant to speak out but we have reached a “transformative point.” Dempsey said U.S. citizens are not “the enemy.”

I will follow the wisdom of these patriots at any time before I would believe a single statement that flies out of Trump’s mouth. These men all have fought for their nation. One of them — Gen. Kelly — lost a son who died in combat. They know better than most of us the value of public service and the price one can pay in service to the nation we all love.

I have stated before that Donald Trump has spent his entire adult life in pursuit of self-enrichment. That is continuing to this very moment. To think Americans elected someone with zero regard for the democratic principles he pledged to protect and defend is an affront to anyone who calls themselves a patriot.

military news

Honoring the fallen warriors

First, a touch of family history as we prepare to commemorate a holiday to honor those who have fallen in combat.

My Dad and one of my uncles endured the horror of combat during World War II. Dad served in the Navy and my uncle served with an Army aviation unit. Another uncle went through the same while leading an Army infantry company during the Korean War. Many of us from the high school class of 1967 in Portland, Ore., went to war during Vietnam.

Despite all of that, I lost no one close to me during all that exposure to enemy fire. So, Memorial Day, while important and significant to Americans as we honor those who have paid the ultimate price to service to the country, is not an event that sends me spiraling into personal grief.

I have written before on this platform about a young man I knew in Vietnam who did pay the price. His name was Jose DeLaTorre. He hailed from Fullerton, Calif. In July 1969, he mounted a UH-1 Huey helicopter, strapped himself into an M-60 machine gun and ferried some troops to what they all thought would be a routine drop-off. It wasn’t.

The enemy was waiting for our guys at the landing zone and they opened fire with intense fury. Jose died that day. I didn’t know him well. In fact, I knew him only well enough to congratulate him on the orders he had gotten that would send him home after spending about 20 months in Vietnam.

So, I will honor the day by remembering Jose’s service and his sacrifice along with all the many thousands of other Americans who died in service to the nation they — and we — all love with every fiber of our being.

International news, military news

Ceasefire? Just end it … now!

OK, I am far, far away from the front in the war between Ukraine and Russia, so I don’t have a particular dog in that fight.

However, if Russian goon/strongman/thug Vladimir Putin is going to unilaterally declare a three-day ceasefire in the fight he is losing to Ukraine then why in the hell doesn’t he just end it? Now! Go back home, Vlad, and take your overmatched and outfought troops home with you!

I don’t even know if this ceasefire will hold. Russians must be frustrated beyond all that is reasonable. Ukrainians, must be too, given that they have spent thousands of lives protecting their sovereign homeland against an invading aggressor nation.

I will never accept — not ever in a million years — the notion that Donald Trump has pushed that Ukraine is to blame for the start of this war. He calls Ukraine President Volodymyr Zellenksyy a “terrorist” and chides him for — yes, actually chides the man — for continuing to fight for his nation’s honor.

Putin is making zero concessions to end the bloodiest ground war in Europe since WWII. Trump is demanding nothing from this killer. He called Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine the act of a “genius.” Good grief, man. It’s the act of a madman!

So now the Russian dictator wants to stop the shelling, shooting and killing for three days. To what end? Who in the hell knows?

I am far away from the fighting, but as an American patriot who fears for the world’s safety, I want this war to end.

military news, national security

Hegseth: an unqualified disaster!

Manning a post that puts someone in charge of the finest miliatary organization in world history requires an individual with immense talent and knowledge of the intricacies of geopolitics.

What did Donald Trump get when he selected Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense? He got a buffoon who has spilled the beans hither and yon about deeply classified military intelligence. Now we hear that Hegseth, the former Fox talking head, has let his phone number be known around the world.

This clown is a threat to the 1.5 million men and women who wear the uniform of this great country.

Hegseth’s top staff is bailing on him. The Pentagon has turned into a clown show. Think about that for a moment: the Pentagon has become a laughingstock!

And why? Because the president of the United States needed a blind loyalist to lead the world’s most lethal military force. He didin’t look for anyone with any smarts, any organizational skill, any sense of the gravity of the information he possessed.

Instead, he hired a dipshit.

And a dangerous one, too!

I guess we can set aside all the crap about his alleged mistreatment of women, or his alleged heavy drinking on the job. Now we need to worry that this moron is blabbing to anyone who will listen about top-secret military matters.

Get him the hell out of there!