Tag Archives: US Army

local news

Rep. Self … talk to us!

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The gentleman who represents me in Congress is at once frustrating and quite capable.

The capability comes from his political experience as Collin County judge before making the move to D.C. The frustration comes from his relative silence related to the conduct of Donald J. Trump.

Trump’s cowardice during the Vietnam War has surfaced again as a talking point, given the war of choice he launched against Iran. Trump evaded induction into the armed forces, citing those infamous bone spurs. Yet he is so willing to send your young men and women into harm’s way for reasons that rtemain a mystery to most Americans.

One of the members of Congress who continues to stand with Trump is Self, a decorated Army Ranger, a combat officer. I believe Rep. Self is an honorable man, and I applaud his service in the Army. However, why in the world did he remain silent when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth angrily chastised six congressional Democrats for remaining members of the military that they are obligated to refuse to obey unlawful orders.

Democrats raised holy hell over Hegseth’s tirade. Republicans stayed silent. One of the silent GOP members is Keith Self, a 20-year military retiree who knows an unlawful order when he sees it and knows how to act when he is issued one.

Keith Self remains a dedicated Trumpkin. I won’t change his mind on that matter. But for the life of me, I don’t understand how he can remain silent while the commander in chief exhibits profound ignorance of the Constitution he took an oath to defend.

military news

No on parade, Donald!

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Donald Trump is turning 79 years old in June. How is the dipsh** in chief planning to celebrate it? With a slice of birthday cake and a Diet Coke? Hah!

He wants to throw a parade stretching from the Pentagon to the White House. It’ll be a military extravaganza, complete with tanks, artillery p;ieces and soldiers marching.

All to commemorate the birthday of a man who:

  • Has said he doesn’t want to be photographed with wounded warriors.
  • Avoided service during the Vietnam War, citing bone spurs.
  • Has called men captured by enemy forces during war “losers.”
  • Denigrated Gold Star families who lost sons in battle.

This individual wants to spend tens of millions of dollars on a parade ostensibly to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary. In reality, he wants to stand at the center of it all and bask in the reflected glory of the men and women who defend a Constitution that Trump is seeking to shred into a million pieces.

This clown is a disgrace.

national news, political news

Walz flubs simple test

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CNN anchor Dana Bash posed a simple yes-or-no question to Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz.

It went like this: You said you carried a weapon in war, but then we learned you did not. Did you misspeak?

Walz didn’t answer the question. Instead, he walked us through his 24-year career in the Army National Guard, expressed his pride in his service and said we shouldn’t denigrate any service person’s military record.

Bash asked him a second time: Did you misspeak?

And again, Walz didn’t answer the question, saying something about how voters “know about my record.”

Republicans have made a bit of noise about the Minnesota governor embellishing his service record. For me, it’s not a huge deal. I accept that he is proud of his service to the country and that he retired as a senior non-commissioned officer; that, too, has been a talking point the GOP has sought to use against Walz.

Bash’s interview with Walz and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was enlightening, to be sure. My own thought is that they both handled themselves coolly and with poise.

I just wish Gov. Walz would have spoken directly to the direct question that Dana Bash posed. I guess I can answer it for him.

Yeah … he misspoke!

Uncategorized

Nothing ‘happy’ about this holiday

A good friend of mine this week posted a message that resonates loudly with me, as it should with all Americans.

Don’t wish David Norris a “happy Memorial Day,” he admonishes us. It is a holiday of commemoration, of honoring those who gave their lives in service to this country.

Norris told the story of a fellow Marine who died while serving the rest of us. They were good friends and every Memorial Day, he remembers his friend’s sacrifice.

We should remember and honor all who paid the ultimate price in service to the great nation.

I served a tour of duty in Vietnam while employed by the U.S. Army for a couple of years in the late 1960s. Every Memorial Day I recall the sacrifice of a young man who was slated to go home after he had extended his ‘Nam tour a couple of times. Jose de La Torre served in the same aviation battalion that I did; he was assigned to a Huey helicopter company and I served in a Mohawk company.

He took off one day on a mission to drop sone troops off in a landing zone. It was “routine,” or so they thought. The LZ was hot and the enemy was waiting for our ships, De La Torre died that day.

I’ve seen his name on The Wall. It still fills me with sadness to recall the exuberance of the then-young man who was going home.

So … let us honor all the men and women who paid the steepest of prices.

And as my buddy David Norris said, don’t wish anyone a happy Memorial Day.

business news

Driverless vehicle? No thanks!

I have been having a fascinating social media discussion about the safety of those “driverless” vehicles that have become a rage among those who want to turn driving over to a computer.

I posted a note on Facebook that I never will sit in a vehicle that is being “driven” by a computer. It drew some response from friends out there who contend that the technology is nine times safer than motor vehicles with human beings operating the steering wheel.

Allow me to stipulate this fact about myself: I am old-school when it comes to motor vehicles.

The hard truth is that I prefer to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission. Why? Because I long have had this fascination with actually manipulating gear shifts levers. It goes back to when my mother taught me to drive her 1961 Rambler, which had a three-speed manual transmission … “on the stick.”

Mom offered me many pearls of wisdom. One of them was that “if you learn to drive with a manual transmission, you will be able to drive anything.” Mom was right. I pride myself on my ability to operate any sort of vehicle with a manual transmission.

I served for a time in Vietnam as an aircraft mechanic and then as a flight operations specialist. The Army then sent me to a transportation company with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Lewis, Wash. I was assigned duty driving a five-ton cargo truck. No sweat. I picked it up immediately.

Therefore, I stand foursquare behind my belief that driverless vehicles ain’t my bag, man. I simply do not trust these machines to ensure that vehicles stay in their lanes.

It’s just me … I guess.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Smirk gets me in trouble

GALLUP, N.M. — My dear mother would scold me when I messed up … which almost always prompted me to smirk at her.

She would get angry at my seeming indifference, telling me to “wipe that smirk off your face or else I’ll wipe it off for you.” I usually got the message.

My smirkiness got me in trouble at times when I was inducted into the Army in 1968. Our drill sergeants would get on my case for one reason or another. My reaction? That’s right: the smirk.

I am still smirking, actually laughing out loud at political statements I deem to be non-serious. The “funniest” statement I keep hearing? It’s the one that says “Democrats cheated during the2020 presidential election. Donald Trump won.”

Well … nothing could be funnier than the defamatory statements that law-abiding, faithful public servants would engineer a fake election result. And, yes, it makes me laugh.

Toby the Puppy and I are en route to the Pacific Coast, where Donald Trump isn’t held in the kind of high esteem he is in other regions of the country. We’re traveling in our pickup with its Texas license plates.

I don’t expect this to happen, but a part of me kinda/sorta expects it: Some motorist well might decide to flip me the bird as we pass on the highway.

What will I do? How will I react? I will smirk … and then laugh out loud.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

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

Blowhard treads where he shouldn’t go

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Tucker Carlson is a right-wing gasbag who quite often bloviates on matters of which he knows nothing.

I’m a bit late entering this kerfuffle, but Carlson has waded into a thicket that has drawn deserved scorn from military veterans.

The Fox News blowhard had the stones to say the other day that women who serve in the military downgrade the quality of the nation’s fighting force. He had the very bad taste to suggest that pregnant women in particular are a detriment to this nation’s readiness.

Whoa! Dude, you stepped in it.

You see, Carlson never has served a single nanosecond in the nation’s military. Thus, he has no actual knowledge of the military culture, let alone the value that all our men and women bring to the defense of the nation.

Career military officers and non-commissioned officers alike have slammed Carlson for his remarks. I want to join them in that rebuke.

I need to stipulate that I served at a time — from 1968 to 1970 — before women became integrated fully into all the military occupational specialties that the Army offers. However, I do retain some familiarity with the culture that drives the military. I have no doubt as to the readiness of our nation’s armed forces, which are the most formidable on Planet Earth; and, yes, the women who serve contribute to our nation’s readiness.

And I speak with personal knowledge that a dear member of my family, a woman who served with valor and honor in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, is every bit as capable as any man with whom she served in the United States Army.

Tucker Carlson would do well to examine his own qualifications before he pontificates on matters with which he has no experience.

military news

Trump exhibits ignorance

By JOHN KANELIS

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump’s ignorance of military matters is well-known, thoroughly chronicled and has become the talk of the planet.

But then the commander in chief said today that rank-and-file enlisted men and women love him, but that the generals and admirals at the top of the chain of command well … think a lot less of him.

“I’m not saying the military’s in love with me,” Trump said. “But the soldiers are.

“The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t, because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy, but we’re getting out of the endless wars, you know how we’re doing.”

That was his response to a question today at a press conference about statements attributed to him in The Atlantic article, the one in which he reportedly called injured service personnel “losers” and “suckers.”

Trump’s astonishing, jaw-dropping ignorance drew a sharp rebuke from retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a Vietnam War combat veteran who led troops into battle during the Persian Gulf War.

McCaffrey noted that the individuals at the general grade officer level themselves came up through the ranks. Many of them saw combat as junior-grade officers; they suffered injury; they suffer from PTSD. Those individuals, Gen. McCaffrey noted correctly, are adamantly opposed to going to war.

And for the commander in chief to suggest they are in bed with weapons makers is as disgraceful a statement that McCaffrey said he has ever heard come from a commander in chief.

It’s instructive, too, that Trump would say such a thing in the wake of the blowback from The Atlantic article that attributes astounding comments from Trump about those who have sacrificed so much in defense of the nation.

To my eyes and ears, what Trump said today about the general-grade officers, alleging greed is pushing them into continuing to fight “endless wars” only validates the reporting that The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has provided.

The commander in chief’s ignorance about military matters, as Gen. McCaffrey has noted, makes him a menace to our national security.

International news, military news, national security

Looking for the leaker, but no answers on bounty

Well now, it appears Donald John Trump is really angry … at the individual who leaked the item about the Russians placing bounties on the heads of U.S. service personnel.

He is going after the person who spilled the beans to the media about what might shake out as arguably the most damning scandal we’ve seen during Trump’s scandal-ridden tenure as president of the United States.

He vows to root out the leaker and punish him or her to the extent that he can. Although it’s unclear to me what precisely he could do other than fire the individual.

But … what about the bounty? When is Trump going to speak directly to the issue of Russian intelligence officials reportedly paying $100,000 to Taliban terrorists who kill our men and women on the battlefield? He’s been stone-cold silent on that matter.

I happen to have a personal stake in this issue. Two members of my family have seen combat in Afghanistan since we went to war against the Taliban after 9/11. One family member is now retired from the Army and is living in Colorado. The other family member, though, is on active duty and well could be sent back to Afghanistan. Obviously, I do not want him harmed. Therefore, I am imploring Congress, the intelligence community, the executive branch of the government to get straight to the depths of what has transpired.

Trump’s initial reaction to the bounty story was to denigrate the reporting of it. He called it “fake news.” He said he never was briefed by his national security team when it first collected intelligence about the bounties.

Reporting on the matter, though, suggests something quite different. Normal National Security Council procedure compels officials to brief the president when it obtains information of this magnitude.

Did they tell Donald Trump when he should have been told? If they did and he ignored it, then I believe we have an act of treason on our hands. If they withheld that information because they feared how he might react to negative news about his pal Vladimir Putin, we have something quite different but also seriously egregious.

Trump keeps saying how much he cares about the troops under his command. He has yet to demonstrate that love and caring in a tangible manner as it regards this hideous story.

Now he’s going after the leaker? That is a shameful dereliction of duty and a disgraceful violation of the oath he took when he became our commander in chief.