Another Good Thing To See

A little more evidence of the cooperation with bloggers we all want to see from CENTCOM...
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Profile: The MILBLOGGERS

(Another in a continuing series of profiles, but the first that deviates from a pattern set in previous Profiles, as described below. For a background on these profiles, and why I write them, go read An Introduction to Dadmanly's Profiles.)

All of my previous profiles have dealt with National Guard soldiers who deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, or their families. This profile is a little different, written as a tribute to my good friends, comrades in arms and words, my brothers and sisters of the world wide web, the MILBLOGGERS. Not pajama clad, but camouflaged!

I previously attempted this profile of my fellow MILBLOGGERS. Earlier, I ended up writing about the significance of stories to soldiers, stories about their experiences, humorous anecdotes, remembrances, just stories, before I was very far into it at all. Best now to read that earlier post as preface to this profile of the MILBLOGGERS.

In Soldier Stories, I described concentric circles of shared experience, the strongest and tightest of all, the connection within a unit, and of shared command.

That’s how I think about MILBLOGGERS. Like the fellow soldiers of my unit, we’ve shared a mission. We fought together, in a very real sense, against media misrepresentations and the sometime indifference of our own nation or its leaders. We boosted each other up, we encouraged and sustained, we motivated. We worked through events together, covering scandal or history in the making, found perspective, described context, in short, told stories. Our stories, and our story telling, became the strongest bond of all.

(For more of the MILBLOGGER Profile, check back at Dadmanly. Many of my friends here are mentioned.)

FBI Issues Warning

Interesting story.

The FBI has sent a bulletin to state and local law enforcement warning of possible terrorist reprisals as the health of an incarcerated terror mastermind fails, FOX News has learned.

Although the FBI said there is no credible indication that a plan for retribution is in place, the agency sent the warning as Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman was treated in Missouri for bleeding.

The blind sheik, who was the alleged architect of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has called for revenge should he die in U.S. custody.

I think it's pretty clear that the Sheik will die in U.S. custody. The only question is when.

Reconnect America

This is why we at OPFOR love being a part of the Military.com family. We're proud to introduce Reconnect America, a joint venture between Military.com and The Military Channel.

(Silver Spring, MD) - The Military Channel, the only cable network to go "behind the lines" on military subjects, and Military.com, the nation's largest online military destination, and subsidiary of Monster Worldwide, Inc., today announced a joint partnership to support men and women in uniform and give voice to veterans and current servicemembers through Reconnect America. This new national campaign will help raise awareness for numerous national organizations that support the U.S. armed forces, veterans and families nationwide, giving citizens everywhere the information they need to get involved. Reconnect America unites 50 million Military Channel and Military.com viewers and visitors with more then 10 million Americans in military-focused organizations such as Operation Gratitude, the Armed Services YMCA, the National Military Family Association, the Fisher House Foundation, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and many others.

I've got a list of contacts for press inquiries, so email if you're interested.

PFC McGinnis update.

From my correspondent in the 1st Cav.

John,

MOH recommendation moved up today for Division Commander’s signature. We had some bad weather in Taji, but the packet was eventually specially flown from his unit’s FOB. FYI his battalion is assigned to 2/1 ID, one of our 7 BCTs, but was task organized to 2nd Brigade, 2nd ID, another of our 7 BCTs, so a lot of units will get the privilege of honoring his heroism.

First Team.

C

As I alluded to in my post and Matthew Maynard points out in full - there are 141 precedents. And, as Matt has pointed out - the kid was a lion.

Where Do We Find Such Women?

Recently, I attended the funeral of Private Reece Moreno, a Third Infantry Division soldier killed in Iraq. In the Patriot Guard Riders flag line, I stood next to Samantha, a local mother of a 3ID soldier and also the mother of a serving US Marine. At the funeral, we spoke briefly to Reece's mother, Regan, and told her to always remember that what her son had chosen for his life was important... that he was important.

A few days after the funeral, I was contacted by Lori, another local mom of a 3ID soldier and she asked if I would accompany her to present the Gold Star banner from Gold Star Mothers of America to Regan and Private Moreno's family. I said that I would be honored.

Today, Lori and I visited Private Moreno's mother and stepfather and Lori presented Regan with her banner, which they promptly hung proudly in the front window of their home.

Of course, there were tears -- more of that liquid love straight from the heart to our eyes -- as we embraced and talked of Reece. Regan proudly told us of his love for the Army, for his brothers and sisters, for his nieces, for his friends. She shared with us a video the family had made of Reece with pictures and the video of Reece's high school band... of he and his best friend Taylor.

Military Commissions Act Upheld in DC District Court

Doesn't sound like the judge was happy about it, but he appears to have followed the law.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge upheld the Bush administration's new terrorism law Wednesday, agreeing that Guantanamo Bay detainees do not have the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robertson is the first to address the new Military Commissions Act and is a legal victory for the Bush administration at a time when it has been fending off criticism of the law from Democrats and libertarians.
...
Though Robertson originally sided with Hamdan, he said that he no longer had jurisdiction to hear Hamdan's case because Congress clearly intended to keep such disputes out of federal courts. He said foreigners being held in overseas military prisons do not have the right to challenge their detention, a right people inside the country normally enjoy.

This was only a District Court. The lowest of the federal courts. The real test will be how the appellate court and (ultimately) the Supreme Court deal with this.

SCOTUS has generally not been too keen on the concept of jurisdiction stripping. Especially attempts to limit its own authority. Which presents a rather nice irony whereby the Court says that even though a law denies them jurisdiction to hear a case, the court hears the case to determine the constitutionality of the law.

Personally I think JDX stripping is cool and one of the few checks on a frequently irresponsible (and democratically irresponsive) judiciary.

H/T Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive

Before There Was Jesse, There Was Ward

Man, you just don't KNOW! When you're knee deep in the shyte, wastin' Charlie! Jumpin' outta planes! YOU CAN'T UNDO THAT MAN!

Maybe you can.

U.S. Army records produced in 2004 in response to a request from the organization News From Indian Country show that Churchill was inducted on Nov. 16, 1966, and trained as a light-truck driver and projectionist.He spent most of a year in Vietnam.

The stories he has told over the years of his Vietnam service have varied dramatically. On a 1980 résumé submitted to the University of Colorado, Churchill wrote that he served as a public-information specialist who "wrote and edited the battalion newsletter and wrote news releases."

In a 1987 interview with The Denver Post, and as recently as two weeks ago, Churchill described his Vietnam service as more complicated. In the 1987 interview, he said he had attended paratrooper school and been assigned as part of an elite long-range reconnaissance patrol to hunt the enemy. His service records do not reflect paratrooper school, or training or assignment on reconnaissance.

At his recent trial on charges of disrupting Denver's Columbus Day parade, he said he had walked "point" in a combat unit in Vietnam and was called "chief" because of his Indian heritage."

I was on the ground pulling triggers. You can't undo that. And I have an obligation to do what I can by way of compensation," Churchill said in a recent interview. "You can say that is the foundational reason that I do most all of what I do."

Chickens coming home to roost, indeed.

All in the Family

Pretty cool story.