12-19-2006 | Jim Mcgee
Mr. Secretary, You Want "Military Transformation"?
Here's Some Real Military Transformation!!

President's Note: The following is from a letter to military reporter Joe Galloway from Jim Magee, a retired colonel of Marines & long-time friend of mine who could always be counted on to produce unconventional thinking. His friends would agree with me that Jim's unconventional approaches nearly always made the Marines' and Navy's Perfumed Princes nervous. The following shows Jim's "outside the box" thinking at its best.

Joe,

I've been an avid reader and a strong supporter of your views since I read We Were Soldiers Once and Young. With the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Commandant of the Marine Corps now publicly calling for more troops, here is a solution that I thought you might make use of to support the case for more infantrymen in both services. Not more troops- per se - but more usable troops, the infantrymen:

If we are serious about the "War on Terror," then the military needs to break the current Cold War model of our Armed Forces to put more infantrymen in the ranks.

For example: It is time we adopt a "ship-to-shore program" in which the Department of the Navy:

1. Cancels the double manning of submarines, the Blue-Gold manning scheme they've had for 50 years, for just "Gold crews" or "Blue crews," with the remainder of personnel slots deleted from authorized Navy manning tables and assigned to the Marine Corps' authorized manning for rifle company-level infantry Marines.

Full Story

US Strategy in Iraq Honors Convocation
Many of our faculty and staff have asked me my views about the current situation in Iraq. A few students have also asked. So I thought I would take this opportunity, two days before Veterans' Day, to provide you with some insights as seen from the perspective of a combat veteran who served as the Commanding General of US and allied forces in Iraq. I also served as Chief of War Plans in the Pentagon and have spent considerable time studying national security affairs, including a fellowship at the National Defense University. So while it's true that everyone has opinions about Iraq, I would argue that not all of those opinions are equally well-informed. Full Story

The United States Needs Military Leaders Who Make Waves
Was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the only one in the Pentagon that helped propel the American war in Iraq into disaster? While many have also pointed fingers at the White House, there are more profound sources of the problems. Congress should look deeper, such as at the three- and four-star Army commanders, who have much to explain. Straus Military Reform Project Adviser Col. Douglas Macgregor (U.S. Army, Ret.) explains in a commentary published by Defense News this week. This commentary by Douglas Macgregor was originally published by Defense News on Nov. 13, 2006. Full Story

Ever wonder why our troops cannot get the best-available body armor, and who is responsible for this disgraceful situation? DefenseWatch has identified one more "contributor" to this sad state of affairs -- Colonel D'Arcy E. Grisier, II, USMC (Ret.). Grisier serves as Military Legislative Assistant for the Chairmen of the Senate Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support for Senator John Ensign of Nevada.

Guess which subcommittee of the Senate Armed Serviced Committee has jurisdiction (or, could claim such, if interested) for the body-armor issue? Yep... good ol' Senator Ensign's Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support.

So, who is the key staffer upon which Senator Ensign relies for objective, professional recommendations on issues like "best-available" body armor? Well, if you divined that Colonel D'Arcy E. Grisier, II, USMC (Ret.) has that role, you would be right.

Now it can be told that the earlier article on the August briefings to various staffers on the Hill by "designated liars" from the Army's acquisition mafia did include information from a report put together by Colonel D'Arcy E. Grisier, II, USMC (Ret.). Full Story

Gutsy NCO Asks The Hard Question In Letter To Editor Of Stars & Stripes (Pacific): Why Are America's Grunts Being Sent To Fight & Die While Wearing "Flattened Soda Cans" Body Armor?

Editor's Note: The 2 Nov 06 issue of Stars & Stripes (Pacific) had two letters to the editor dealing with the issue of "best-available" body armor. First, a very gutsy SSGT David Anderson (no service listed, but assigned to an air base in Iraq), questioned why US troops are not being issued Pinnacle Armor's superior Dragon Skin. (In the case of the Army and too many Marine units, our combat troops are forbidden to use even privately purchased Dragon Skin!) There follows a reply (of sorts) from Army MajGen Jeffrey Sorenson who ignores entirely SSGT Anderson's questions about why the superior Dragon Skin is not issued, or permitted. Hack would have loved to watch this NCO stick it to the Perfumed Princes, and have been enraged (but not surprised) at the pathetic and disgraceful attempt of PP Sorenson to deflect attention from where it belongs -- America's Grunts deserve the best-available body armor. Why are they being issued a demonstrably inferior product?

It is the responsibility of your publication to tell the real story: Why are troops being issued inferior body armor and then being placed in harm’s way with it when superior body armor has existed for years? Full Story

The M-16: It Could Have Been Worse - Part 2

Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part edited excerpt from the book AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War by Larry Kahaner (Wiley & Sons, October, 2006). For more details on the AK-47 go to www.AK-47book.com. Note the similarities between how the Army's acquisition mafia (the civilian bureaucrats at Springfield Arsenal, aided & abetted by Perfumed Princes and the MICC), worked to promote every interest, except that of the US Soldier. The current scandalous conduct by the Army (and the Marine Corps) on the issue of "best-available" body armor is largely a mirror image of the corrupt practices that produced the disastrous M-16 as the replacement for the M-14 (which was not the "best-available" of its day, either).

However, ensuing tests did not prove the anecdotal stories received from the battlefield about the AR-15’s superiority and charges flew around the highest levels of government about rigged tests designed to make the new weapon look inferior. By this time, McNamara knew that Ordnance had been lying and decided to kill production of the M-14 by 1963 and begin production of the AR-15. He ordered 85,000 AR-15s for the Army and 19,000 for the Air Force. Still, M-14s were being issued as testing was underway for a military version of the AR-15 now called the M-16.

The subcommittee visited Vietnam and heard stories about how soldiers routinely took AKs from enemy dead and used them instead of their M-16s. This practice became so commonplace that soldiers in the field officially were banned from using AKs, because their distinct sound attracted friendly fire. In defiance, many soldiers still carried AKs. Special covert units of the military and CIA were sanctioned to carry AKs on their secret missions because of its reliability.

In his bestselling book, Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts, Colonel David H. Hackworth told the story of bulldozers during a base construction project uncovering a buried Viet Cong soldier and his AK. He yanked the weapon out of the mud and pulled back the bolt. “Watch this,” Hackworth said, “I’ll show you how a real infantry weapon works.” With that he fired off thirty rounds as if the rifle had been cleaned that morning instead of being buried for a year. “This was the kind of weapon our soldiers needed and deserved, not the M-16 that had to be hospital cleaned or it would jam,” he wrote.

Ordnance Department in general and their handling of the development of the M-16 program in particular. The culprit, it turns out, wasn’t the gun, but the ammunition. The report concluded that M-16s jammed because the Ordnance Department insisted on changing the cartridge propellant from extruded or stick type powder to ball type powder, which tended to leave a residue in the rifle after repeated firing... Full Story

Virginia National Guard Soldiers Monitor Internet
For OPSEC Violations

Editor's Note: Is this article from a field grade PAO an OPSEC violation, in and of itself? Certainly, claiming a photo "aids the enemy" that shows a Soldier's ammo belt with the distribution of ball ammo and tracer ammo leads one to question just how much tactical insight these National Guard data processors have (or does "credit" go to the PAO who wrote the piece?). Would not some former combat arms Soldiers with time in tactical operations be better as OPSEC monitors? Maybe some medically discharged Soldiers could be given Army civilian jobs as OPSEC monitors. BTW -- The Soldiers described in the article are to be commended for their service, and SFTT deeply respects their commitment to defend our great nation.

Big Brother is not watching you, but 10 members of a Virginia National Guard unit might be. The Manassas-based Virginia Data Processing Unit activated a team in July for one year to scan official and unofficial Army Web sites for operational security violations. Editor's Note: What are "unofficial Army Web sites"? The team, which works under the direction of the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, Army Office of Information Assurance and Compliance, notifies webmasters and blog writers when they find documents, pictures and other items that may compromise security. Full Story

Letter From Proud Marine Father To Congressional Rep's RE: Dragon Skin

Editor's Note: We frequently get questions from readers, "What can I do to help get our kids the best-available [fill in the blank]." Well, here's what one reader, and proud father of a US Marine, did on his own initiative. Below is an excerpt of his letter. The complete letter is posted inside. I think it's worth sharing. s/f, Rog

An article “11 U.S. Troops Die Inside Iraq” in the October 19 newspaper prompts me to write you. The article goes on “So far, 70 American troops have been killed in Iraq this month. If the death toll continues at this rate, the monthly tally would be the highest since November 2004.”

Many have died due to IED’s and small arms fire. Recent tests have indicated there is a superior body armor (Dragon Skin from Pinnacle Armor) available which not only is effective against small arms fire, but also shrapnel from IED’s. (Note: Dragon Skin is used by President Bush’s Secret Service detail.) It is important that our troops get the best commercially available body armor!

Full Story

The M-16: It Could Have Been Worse - Part 1

Editor's Note: This is Part 1 of a two-part edited excerpt from the book AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War by Larry Kahaner (Wiley & Sons, October, 2006). For more details on the AK-47 go to www.AK-47book.com. Note the similarities between how the Army's acquisition mafia (the civilian bureaucrats at Springfield Arsenal, aided & abetted by Perfumed Princes and the MICC), worked to promote every interest, except that of the US Soldier. The current scandalous conduct by the Army (and the Marine Corps) on the issue of "best-available" body armor is largely a mirror image of the corrupt practices that produced the disastrous M-16 as the replacement for the M-14 (which was not the "best-available" of its day, either).

"The US military was stuck. The current M-14, which was supposed to replace the M-1, was inferior to the AK[-47], but for all practical purposes nothing else was in the hopper. Nothing except for a proposed but discredited rifle so radical and sleek in its design that it resembled a child’s shiny plastic toy gun. Military testers even called it The Mattel Toy. Unlike the seemingly clumsily made but deadly AK or the solid, you-can-use-it-as-a-club M-1 rifle, this new entry sported a 1940’s art deco-like sleek profile, science fiction-esque black body."

Full Story

AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War
Reviewed by Sean Kilcarr
What separates the great books from the merely ordinary in the realm of military weapons is the story-telling process: How that rifle, pistol, tank, submarine, or aircraft came to be and its impact not only upon the conduct of warfare but societies as a whole, without getting bogged down in all the necessary technical details.

  FLASH - DefenseWatch Bulletin

U.S. Military Active Duty Retirees--Valuable Assets
As a former Marine (Vietnam Vet) and a retired Army Sergeant Major I am quite concerned with the manpower shortages the U.S. Military is faced with today while we fight the war on terror. I have long believed that active duty military retirees could be of enormous assistance to guard and reserve units. Unfortunately, active duty military retirees are not allowed to join these units because congress refuses to change the law to allow them to do so. My essay addresses this and I believe it will be of interest to many of your readers... Thanks again for your time and consideration. -- George S. Kulas, Fond du Lac, WI. Full Story

Vaccine Safety Advocates Oppose Pentagon's Return to Mandatory Anthrax Vaccination of U.S. Military Personnel
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs William Winkenwerder, M.D. reportedly will announce later today that U.S. soldiers will once again be forced under threat of court martial to be injected with anthrax vaccine without their voluntary, informed consent. The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is warning that one-size-fits- all mandatory vaccination policies are dangerous for those with genetic and other biological risk factors, making them vulnerable to brain and immune system dysfunction following anthrax vaccination. Full Story

Editor's Note: This eloquent statement is a cry from the heart of an Army General - a Leader in the Hackworth mold -- who placed Duty-Honor-Country ahead of personal career advancement. It is an attack on current policy and the personality who drives that policy. Although it was made before a partisan group, it is NOT a partisan political statement. Some will nonetheless try to falsely portray it as such.

Major General, US Army (Retired), John Batiste’s
Testimony Before Senate Democratic Policy Committee,
On September 25, 2006

My name is John Batiste. I left the military on principle on November 1, 2005, after more than 31 years of service. I walked away from promotion and a promising future serving our country. I hung up my uniform because I came to the gut-wrenching realization that I could do more good for my soldiers and their families out of uniform. I am a West Point graduate, the son and son-in-law of veteran career soldiers, a two-time combat veteran with extensive service in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq, and a life-long Republican. Bottom line, our nation is in peril, our Department of Defense’s leadership is extraordinarily bad, and our Congress is only today, more than five years into this war, beginning to exercise its oversight responsibilities. This is all about accountability and setting our nation on the path to victory. There is no substitute for victory and I believe we must complete what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan. Full Story

Sacred Trust
As a recent returning resident of Baghdad, I have witnessed firsthand the mismanagement of the peace. As a man who spent most of his adult life learning and training in the same Army as the General, I know of what he speaks. Much of what I saw and heard us doing over there was so bonehead stupid, I could only conclude it was on purpose. Intentional or not, I cannot excuse the horrendous assumptions which led to the woefully inadequate war plans made by the highest civilian and military authority in the land to commit our national treasure in money and blood to a war they have chosen to fight with less than our best effort. In the world of military leadership; that is sacrilege of the first order -- Colonel, US Army (Retired). Full Story

The "Beer" Trap

New Army Standard
The new Army standard is "Marginal." As you can see (by the Memorandum .pdf), you no longer have to adhere to the most basic of standards in the Army--meeting height/weight requirements and passing your PT Test. Now, “NCOs” (and I use that term loosely) who can't even manage to pass an APFT, or meet minimum weight and body fat requirements are allowed to go to NCO schooling and be side-by-side with NCOs who care about standards. Eventually, these duds will be competing with capable NCOs for promotion. Can you imagine a squad leader, platoon sergeant, first sergeant, or even sergeant major in front of a formation busting out of their uniform, or not even able to pass a APFT? Full Story | NCO Presents Other Side