If we have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

[ArmyLawyer]

Last WWI Combat Veteran Laid to Rest

Retired Army Cpl. Howard V. Ramsey, Oregon's last living World War I veteran and the last known U.S. combat veteran of WWI, died in his sleep Feb. 22 at an assisted living center in southeast Portland. He was honored in a memorial service attended by nearly 200 people at Lincoln Memorial Park exactly one month before reaching his 109th birthday.
...
In an Associated Press report, Jim Benson of the Veterans Administration said there are now only seven WWI veterans on record with the VA, although it is possible there are unknown veterans who may still exist.

Of the seven known WWI veterans still living, none were shipped overseas, making Ramsey the last known combat veteran of "The Great War." Ramsey inherited the title two weeks before his passing, when Massachusetts veteran Antonio Pierro passed away on Feb. 8.

Ramsey's lifetime spanned three centuries and 19 presidents. He was born in Rico, Colo., on April 2, 1898, when the U.S. flag had just 45 stars and President McKinley was preparing to declare war with Spain.

Too young to be drafted, Ramsey tried to voluntarily enlist but was told he was too skinny by Army standards. After gorging on bananas and water to successfully meet weight standards, he was placed in the Army's transportation corps.

Ramsey sailed to France in September 1918 to join General John "BlackJack" Pershing's American Expeditionary Force. Ramsey drove cars, trucks and motorcycles for the Army and trained other Soldiers how to drive. He was often selected to drive officers to special engagements, one officer "gigging" him for having a dirty truck despite the constant rain and mud in France. He also drove ambulances, transported troops to the frontlines and delivered water to troops on the battlefields.

Ramsey once recalled his service in WWI saying, "We were under fire a lot at the front, and we really caught hell one time. I lost friends over there."

After the armistice, Ramsey spent several months recovering the remains of American Soldiers who had been hastily buried in the trenches and transported them to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, the largest American cemetery in Europe.

Pre-Registration About to Close

[Andi]

There are only 17 seats left in the pre-registration phase for the MilBlog Conference. If you're a part of the military community and haven't yet registered, better hurry. Registration will open to the general public on Saturday.

p.s. - I've been in California this week working on another military-related conference. Stay tuned for details. Related to nothing, but amusing nonetheless... Of all the people in the world to bump into here in California, it had to be Gloria Steinem. No joke.

US Army Deserter Turns Up in the ROK Army

[GIKorea]

This is an interesting legal question that has just come up with the recent arrest of a Korean Army soldier as a US Army deserter:

A South Korean soldier may be a U.S. military deserter after he left his U.S. base and joined the South Korean army, apparently to avoid a tour of duty in Iraq, the defense ministry in Seoul said on Thursday. The South Korean army private second class, whose identity was given only as Kim, joined the U.S. military in 2003 to become a permanent U.S. citizen on condition that he would serve in Iraq, a ministry official said. In 2005, he visited his home country on leave just before his U.S. unit was to be deployed to Iraq and never went back, the South Korean defense ministry official. Instead, as he still held a South Korean passport, he was called up by the South Korean military and began serving late last year due to mandatory military enlistment. Kim's trouble with the U.S. military came to the surface when he went to the U.S. army headquarters in Seoul this month hoping to clear his name but was arrested on the spot.

I think the soldier in question will probably just receive a bad conduct discharge as I have seen soldiers who have deserted in the last few years receive as well, but I'm no JAG so maybe some of you Army lawyers out there have a better understanding of what will happen with this case.

(HT: here)

Re: Double Down on Iraq

[Soldier's Dad]

IMHO

The various regional players need to understand that stoking a civil war in Iraq means stoking a regional war...in which they will all be horrible losers....on the other hand...the US could leave a few troops in Iraq as a stabilization force thereby negating the need for the various regional players to have a regional war.

As much as Hillary makes my skin crawl...I think a lot of what comes out of her mouth vis-a-vis Iraq is intended for an international rather than domestice audience.

Bottom line...if the Iranians really think an Iraqi civil war is in their interests...they will need to deal with the Saudis and Pakistanis and vice-versa.

Double Down on Iraq

[Dadmanly]

Tom Maguire, guest-blogging at Instapundit, links to a New York Times interview with Senator Hillary Clinton, in which she suggests that up to 75,000 US troops may remain in Iraq beyond 2008 under her plan for Iraq.

Two stunning paragraphs open the Times report:

WASHINGTON, March 14 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a “remaining military as well as political mission” in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.

In a half-hour interview on Tuesday in her Senate office, Mrs. Clinton said the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence — even if it descended into ethnic cleansing.

You have to give Hillary Clinton, or at least whatever trusted advisors are responsible, credit for nerve. I hesitate to commend her further, given her record, but the new reports on her plan for Iraq are just short of stunning to the degree she charges rightward of her left-leaning political base. This at a time when you might expect her to tack leftward to win the party nomination.

(More commentary and links at Dadmanly.)

Re: SUBMISS

[Chap]

I'm glad you're on top of it as always. It even made CNN, not a comfortable place for a member of the Silent Service. Only thing I'd have to add is that I've participated in entirely too many exercises where some surface lookout reports a nonexistent red flare...

Re: @W(r) T F

[Chap]

John, thanks for the heads up. What is going on there?

Den Beste once warned us back in the day about the dangers of believing what you read...

USS San Juan SUBMISS Incident

[Bubblehead]

For those interested, some submariners have been discussing yesterday's excitement with the USS San Juan (SSN 751) over at my place.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.....

[John Noonan]

Is going on here?

I saw the post about @WR and couldn't believe my eyes. I wouldn't put up any such post, as it could be viewed as aiding and abetting someone to disobey a direct order. Personally, I think that such an order to silence a person from keeping what amounts to a public diary is unlawful, as it serves no purpose other than to restrict that person's first-amendment guaranteed right, which, as we all know, the constitution ensures the gummint can't touch, (infringe) and an Army officer, being a de facto government representative, issuing said order would be a perfect example of gummint incursion onto that right.

.....

Regardless, I must state plainly that I didn't post the piece about @WR. It wasn't until this morning that I even visited http://walterreed.blogspot.com. Like I have previously stated in the disclaimer at the bottom of this page from day -1 this site has most likely been hacked.

Chuck Z is talking about this post, where someone seems to be pushing the Walter Reed blog through a form of sock-puppetry.

I ran into this when researching the Walter Reed blog for a post at Michelle Malkin's. After reading Chuck's explanation, I decided that it would probably be wise to stay away until someone can explain.

So....

Can someone explain?

@WR

[Chap]

A relatively new blog to me got linked at BoingBoing, where I found it--says he's a soldier at Walter Reed.

Last Call For The Mil-Bloggers Bracket Bonanza

[Bubblehead]

Completed brackets are due by 1100 EDT on Thursday for the Mil-Bloggers Men's NCAA BB Tournament bracket challenge. If you've already signed up to participate, get your brackets turned in! If you haven't signed up yet, send me an E-mail or leave a comment here -- details are in my earlier post. I'll do a last check of my inbox and the comments at about 0730 EDT Thursday to send out the last group of invites.

Just to let you know what's at stake here, the lovely and talented Cassandra had this to say on the group message board (paraphrasing): "You, sir,... I... claim the... title".

Perhaps we should call a conference?

[Soldier's Mom]

You'd think these people had nothing else to worry about than "300"

Iranian Officials Angry Over 'Hostile Portrayal' in Hollywood Hit Movie '300'

Iran, which turned a deaf ear last year to protests over its attempt to rewrite history through a Holocaust conference, now is crying foul over what it calls a "fabrication of culture and insult" to Iranians in the Hollywood hit movie "300."

Javad Shangari, a cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, attacked the film as being "part of a comprehensive U.S. psychological warfare aimed at Iranian culture," Daily Variety reported Wednesday.

An online petition calls the movie's distributor, Warner Brothers, "irresponsible, unethical and unscientific actions ... while announcing our disgust at such a heresy, we demand an immediate historical review and quick apology from the responsible people."

Uh-huh. We're all about psychological warfare aimed at the Iranian culture... for 2,500 years. hooboy. sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. I'm trying to figure out who the "responsible people" would be? (I'd be hoping for a one finger apology...) Story here.