Category: US Military

In the past week the U.S. military has lost former Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno and now General Colin Powell as well:

Colin Powell, the boundary-breaking military leader and diplomat whose sterling reputation of service to Republican and Democratic presidents was stained by his faulty claims to justify the 2003 U.S. war in Iraq, died Monday of COVID-19 complications. He was 84.

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Powell spent 35 years in the Army and rose to the rank of four-star general before becoming the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His oversight of the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi army in 1991 made him a household name, prompting speculation for nearly a decade that he might run for president, a course he ultimately decided against.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I always felt bad for Colin Powell because of how the intelligence community let him down with the faulty intelligence with Iraq. He seemed to take pride in his creditability and it was shot after the faultiness of the intelligence was discovered after the war in Iraq.

Condolences to all the friends and family General Powell.

Does anyone think it is a coincidence that with the drawdowns in Iraq an Afghanistan that the CSIS is advocating for cutting troop benefits to pay for more equipment from the defense contractors that lavishly donate to CSIS?:

To counter ever-rising personnel costs in the ranks, defense officials should consider radical changes to troops’ compensation packages like replacing annual pay raises with more targeted bonuses and mandating 25 years of service for full retirement benefits, according to a new budget analysis released this week.

“While today’s U.S. military is near its smallest size since the end of World War II in terms of active duty end strength, personnel costs are at a historic high,” wrote Seamus Daniels, associate director for Defense Budget Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Military Times

You can read more at the link.

The video made by a Marine Lieutenant Colonel criticizing U.S. military generals over their failures in Afghanistan went viral over the weekend. Lt. Col. Scheller has now resigned his commission. I wonder if he has political ambitions?:

The Marine officer who filmed a viral video calling out senior military and civilian leaders for failures in Afghanistan resigned his commission “effective immediately” in a new 10-minute video Sunday threatening to “bring the whole [expletive] system down.”

Lt. Col. Stu Scheller was dismissed Friday from command of the Advanced Infantry Training Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C., over the original video. In the new one, he claims he is not currently under investigation and that he likely would be allowed to ride out his remaining three years until retirement if he chose to stay silent.

“I don’t think that’s the path I’m on,” he says in the video, shot inside an “abandoned school bus” in eastern North Carolina. “I’m resigning my commission as a United States Marine, effective now … [and] I am forfeiting my retirement, all entitlements. I don’t want a single dollar.”

He suggests that senior military generals would need the roughly $2 million he’d expect to receive in retirement and his other benefits more than he would once he’s through with them.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like U.S. service members better get ready to roll up their sleeves or find something else to do as a profession:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday said he will seek President Joe Biden’s permission by mid-September to require all troops receive the coronavirus vaccine regardless of whether the shots obtain full federal approval. 

“I want you to know that I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon the U.S. Food and Drug [Administration] licensure, whichever comes first,” Austin wrote in his message. “Public reporting suggests the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could achieve full FDA licensure early next month.” 

Biden said last week during a news conference that he expects the FDA will approve the vaccines by the early fall.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like for a number of servicemembers it will be back to wearing masks indoors regardless of vaccination status:

The Pentagon on Wednesday announced it would once again require all individuals to wear face coverings when indoors at Defense Department facilities in locations deemed high risk by federal health officials for the spread of coronavirus.

The directive from Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Wednesday walks back guidance issued in May that allowed service members and others who had been fully vaccinated against the virus to forgo mask-wearing at Defense Department facilities worldwide. It comes one day after the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance encouraging vaccinated Americans to don masks indoors in certain locations where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but no word in the article on how this new policy will be implemented for troops stationed overseas.

Every time I see some one go down in flames for mishandling classified information I can’t help, but think of the whole Hillary Clinton situation:

 A 31-year-old civilian employee of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command pleaded guilty this week in Hawaii to mishandling classified information while she was on temporary duty in Manila.

Asia Janay Lavarello, in a plea agreement on Tuesday, admitted one count of “knowingly removing classified information concerning the national defense or foreign relations of the United States and retaining it at an unauthorized location” in U.S. District Court in Hawaii, the Department of Justice said in a news release Tuesday.

She is free on an unsecured bail bond, with sentencing scheduled for Nov. 4.

The count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, the release said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like soon the remaining 30% of US military personnel not vaccinated will have to get the shot:

The Army is directing commands to prepare to administer mandatory COVID-19 vaccines as soon as Sept. 1, Army Times is reporting.

The Department of the Army Headquarters has sent an executive order to commands that the vaccines will become mandatory “on or around 01 September 2021 pending full Food and Drug Administration licensure.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.