Like I have been saying for months, official talks to deploy THAAD to Korea would probably happen once the ROK government had the political cover of a North Korean provocation which the latest rocket launch has given them:
Yoo Jeh-seung (R), deputy minister for policy at South Korea`s Defense Ministry, speaks during a joint press conference with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea`s Eighth Army, at the defense ministry in Seoul on Feb. 7, 2016, after North Korea launched a long-range missile as part of the continual push of its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
South Korea and the United States have agreed to begin negotiations for the deployment of an advanced American air defense system on South Korean soil, officials said Sunday, despite opposition from China and Russia.
The announcement on the controversial defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, was given just hours after North Korea launched a long-range missile as part of the continual push of its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
“The U.S. and South Korea have decided to start official discussion on the possibility of U.S. Forces Korea’s deployment of THAAD as part of measures to upgrade the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s missile defense posture against North Korea’s advancing threats,” Yoo Jeh-seung, deputy minister for policy, said in a joint briefing with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of USFK’s Eighth Army.
Vandal said the decision was made upon USFK Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti’s recommendation, adding that “it is time to move forward on the issue.” [Yonhap]
What I am wondering about most with this story is why is the police department paying their officers for up to 30 days pay when they are getting a paycheck already from the military when on orders? This is just another example of good intentions creating an incentive for people like this guy to cheat the taxpayer:
A former police officer with a little more than a year on the job has been arrested for going on a Hawaiian vacation with his girlfriend while he was receiving full pay from the department while he was purportedly on a deployment with the US Army Reserves, police said.
In a press release from Lt. Sean Cooney, commander of the Stamford police department’s Internal Affairs Division, recently resigned police officer Donald Chen, 30, has been charged with first-degree larceny and defrauding a public community and was released without bond.
“I’m extremely disappointed with what happened,” police Chief Jon Fontneau said Tuesday morning. Fontneau said that the department supports their military veterans in every way it can, including allowing them to go on deployments for up to 30 days a year with pay. “What we found to be was a case of fraud committed not only to the city of Stamford and its taxpayers and the U.S. Government,” he said.
Fontneau said that Chen, a former member of the US Army, resigned from the department before he could be fired. “He would have been fired,” Fontneau said. Chen will not receive a pension or any kind of a pay out. Fontneau said that the department will ask that prosecutors on Chen’s case apply for restitution of more than $2,000 that he was being paid for by the city for his military service. [Stars and Stripes]
Instead of going to the Army to solve their concussion problem, the easiest thing the NFL could do is get rid of helmets. If players were not wearing helmets they would not lead with their head as much and use it as a weapon against opposing players. It would be interesting research to see what the concussion rate is between NFL players and professional rugby players who do not wear helmets:
The NFL’s quest to become safer has extended to an Army lab at Aberdeen Proving Ground, where rubbery, fluid-filled straps tether a crash test dummy’s football helmet to its body. While they allow turning of the head, the straps tighten automatically under jarring blows to minimize violent head whips.
Designed by Army Research Laboratory scientists, the “smart” strap system was one of three recent winners of an open competition for funding to develop new approaches to reduce brain injuries to players.
Concussions are a billion-dollar problem for the league as a new feature film spotlights the issue and raises questions about how the NFL is trying to tackle a matter that could threaten the sport’s future. [The Baltimore Sun]
The Economist has an article published that discusses why the US military has had a hard time recruiting and how military generals have too much power:
Seasonal factors, including a strengthening labour market and negative media coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have widened the gulf. So have the dismal standards of education and physical fitness that prevail in modern American society. At a time of post-war introspection, these factors raise two big questions. The first concerns America’s ability to hold to account a military sector its leaders feel bound to applaud, but no longer competent to criticise. Andrew Bacevich, a former army officer, academic and longstanding critic of what he terms the militarism of American society, derides that support as “superficial and fraudulent”. Sanctified by politicians and the public, he argues, the army’s top brass have been given too much power and too little scrutiny, with the recent disastrous campaigns, and similarly profligate appropriations, the almost inevitable result. The second question raised by the civil-military disconnect is similarly fundamental: it concerns America’s future ability to mobilise for war. [The Economist]
You can read the rest at the link, but according to one military official the amount of obese potential recruits is the biggest recruiting challenge currently. As far as the military brass having too much power, I would also disagree with this, they are executing the strategy given to them from the White House. If strategy is flawed the military campaign will be flawed as well. As far appropriations Congress is just as much to blame as the military brass who help keep flawed acquisitions programs going because of the jobs they provide in their district.
Below is an interesting update on the controversy surrounding the now three women who have graduated Ranger School based on a media interview with the command team at Ft. Benning. Like I have maintained based on what I have read, it appears the special treatment for the females was that they received extensive pre-training and unlimited recycles like most infantry officers receive for Ranger School. Soldiers who are not infantry do not get the same pre-training and amount of recycles, so the inequity for Ranger School did not begin with the female graduates which no one is talking about:
Maj. Gen. Scott Miller, commander, Maneuver Center of Excellence, shakes hands with Capt. Kristen M. Griest, one of the latest Soldiers to earn the Ranger tab, Aug. 21, 2015, at Fort Benning, Ga. PATRICK A. ALBRIGHT/U.S. ARMY PHOTO
Maj. Gen. Scott Miller’s voice held frustration late Friday afternoon during a quickly arranged media roundtable on the fourth floor of McGinnis-Wickam Hall, headquarters of the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence.
The commanding general of Fort Benning has been fighting allegations for months that female soldiers were given special treatment to pass Ranger School, the most physically and mentally demanding training offered by the Army.
Four hours after the third woman graduated, Miller sat front and center with Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Metheny to his right and four members of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, including the commander, Col. David Fivecoat, and Command Sgt. Maj. Curtis Arnold, on his left flank.
“There are some people who obviously have some concerns,” Miller said. “I can’t address them if they are opaque. These guys can’t address them or fix them if they are opaque.”
Among the three reporters was Susan Keating, a People magazine correspondent who has reported that multiple unnamed sources have told her there was unfair assistance given to the women.
The most telling moment came more than 50 minutes into an interview that lasted almost an hour and a half. Miller, who won the Bronze Star for Valor as Delta Force ground commander in the Battle of Mogadishu, was asked if his credibility had been damaged by the allegations.
“I have thick skin and I am a public figure, but I will tell you who doesn’t deserve this is these guys,” he said, pointing to the Ranger instructors. “They don’t deserve this. … I keep telling everybody I will put my name on anything I say or do. If they are not willing to put their name on it or come back to me. …”
That sparked an exchange between Miller and the People correspondent, prompting Keating to ask Miller, “What if one of my sources comes to me and I say, ‘You need to go tell Gen. Miller right now, you need to go knock on his door and tell him exactly what you are telling me, and give him the same specifics, dates and details that you are giving me’? What’s the push back on that? Will he get repercussions?”
“He will not get repercussions,” Miller responded.
“Will you come back and say, ‘Why did you give a go when you shouldn’t have?” Keating asked the general.
“If he says he gave a go he shouldn’t have given, then he needs to report that,” Miller said.
“So, there would be repercussions for him, right?” Keating asked. “This is part of what we are up against. I have actually asked these people, why don’t you go knock on his door? He’s been in combat. He’s been around the block a few times, right? They say, ‘No. Our careers will be over. We will be ruined.” [Stars & Stripes]
The accusations about special treatment that allowed the two female officers to graduate the US Army’s Ranger School has just gotten more serious:
But whereas men consistently were held to the strict standards outlined in the Ranger School’s Standing Operating Procedures handbook sources say, the women were allowed lighter duties and exceptions to policy.
Multiple sources told PEOPLE:
• Women were first sent to a special two-week training in January to get them ready for the school, which didn’t start until April 20. Once there they were allowed to repeat the program until they passed – while men were held to a strict pass/fail standard.
• Afterward they spent months in a special platoon at Fort Benning getting, among other things, nutritional counseling and full-time training with a Ranger.
• While in the special platoon they were taken out to the land navigation course – a very tough part of the course that is timed – on a regular basis. The men had to see it for the first time when they went to the school.
• Once in the school they were allowed to repeat key parts – like patrols – while special consideration was not given to the men.
• A two-star general made personal appearances to cheer them along during one of the most challenging parts of the school, multiple sources tell PEOPLE.
The end result? Two women – First Lts. Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver – graduated August 21 (along with 381 men) and are wearing the prestigious Ranger Tab. Griest was surprised they made it.
The whole article is worth a read, but I think the words from Major General Miller in the article in regards to a woman will graduate Ranger School need further context to be a smoking gun. As far as the claims of special treatment I think it is fair to say that the female Rangers did get special treatment compared to male Ranger candidates from non-infantry MOSs. Infantry soldiers that attend Ranger school have an advantage over other candidates especially the officers because of the training they do to become proficient in their MOS which feeds naturally into tasks required during Ranger School. It appears the Army senior leadership made a decision to give female candidates as much of an advantage to pass the course as infantry soldiers receive.
Serving with Korean Augmentees to the US Army (KATUSA) is an experience with a long history for US military servicemembers in Korea. So when I was recently browsing through the Stars & Stripes archives this article about a KATUSA leading a US Army infantry squad caught my attention:
From the November 8, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes.
The KATUSA Sergeant J.S.Song due to his competence was chosen as a squad leader for Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division that served on the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Back then just like today most KATUSAs are not given positions with such responsibility due to language and cultural differences. The fact that Sergeant Song was given such a position especially back then when combat on the DMZ was a common occurrence shows how competent of a KATUSA Sergeant Song was. Here is what his Platoon Sergeant Guy E. McKean and Sgt Song himself had to say about be given this leadership opportunity:
It is stories like this that makes me wonder if Sergeant Song ever did return to being a farmer after his service was completed. If so he would be an old man now, but hopefully he still has good memories about his time leading US troops on the DMZ.
This photo taken on Aug. 21, 2015, shows military trucks and other mobility equipment ready at a U.S. Army unit in Dongducheon, northeast of Seoul, amid heightened tensions raised by the two Koreas’ shelling across the inter-Korean border the previous day. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered front-line troops to have full combat readiness against South Korea as he declared a “quasi-state of war.” (Yonhap)
