If the Qurans recently burned at NATO bases in Afghanistan were disposed of accidentally in the incineration pits, aren't American Fundamentalist Talibans concerned about where the excess bibles go? By now we all know the M.O. at US camps in our occupied territories is to incinerate any and all unused inventory. They're even ordered to burn leftover bottled water. Can there be any doubt if the US forces found themselves with too many Qurans to go around, that they had fewer takers for Christian bibles? When you raise the subject in these parts, even yokels profess their indignation at the prospect of burning a bible, so wouldn't they want to scrutinize what's being burned at our military bases? Or is it the same with American flags? When hippies do it, it's a national sacrilege, when the Army does it, it's ordained cremation.
Tag: US Army
Oops, troops don’t get memo, kill kids
SUNDAY- Drunken US soldiers kill 16 Afghanistan civilians, nine of them children. The US military is claiming the massacre was the work of one soldier who "wandered" inside homes in Kandahar's Panjwayi district, but witnesses report it was a squad who laughed as they shot the families and tried to burn the bodies. US Army defenders might argue mouths agape that it doesn't make sense, what would US NATO forces accomplish by doing that? State terrorism is no accident. Whether by directive, unleashing berserkers, or enlisting young men with mental deficiencies, TROOPS KILL KIDS. For our remedial readers I'll note that Tony and I are under fire for raising that point at an Occupy GA. What's the vigilante posse got to say about the US soldiers in the village of Zangabad? Just part of the ugly job of war? Happens everyday? Yes it does.
The troops don’t want your support, they want you to enable them
In protesting war, it's not enough to say you "support the troops", even as you advocate to "bring them home". Soldiers see criticizing war as directed at them because it underminds the purity of spirit they want to go about their destructive missions. Don't expect to get anywhere with trying to explain legal or moral issues. Their military indoctrination omits understanding war crimes like collective punishment, disproportionate force, massacre, murder, and by the looks of it, even rape of your fellow female soldiers. No, today's soldiers want enablers to help them "embrace the carnage" so they can "do what they have to do" wherever they're deployed. Even stationed stateside, they're unencumbered by critical thought, they certainly don't want to hear yours.
The 4th Combat Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, 2nd Battalion, 12th Regiment, Lethal Warriors, self-styled Berserkers
Neighbors of Ft Carson probably know that soldiers in the 12th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Division of the US Army 4th Ivy go by the team name of "LETHAL WARRIORS". It may boost egos, but wouldn't you think it limits their deployment options? You could hardly expect host populations to think "Lethal Warriors" would qualify as PEACEKEEPERS for example. Who welcomes lethal force to deliver humanitarian aid? Well never mind that, because it gets worse. The 12th Regiment members are also proud that they're considered "BERSERKERS". And they know what that means. Do you? The 12th gets called in when command doesn't want one raghead left standing. Get your rage on, light up a village and leave no survivors as a lesson to the villages nearby. You've got to "embrace the carnage" to be a berserker apparently. The term is self-explanatory, and so probably the soldiers don't know berserker referred to the Norse warriors who threw themselves into a rage before laying waste their adversaries. Whether augmented by drink, drug or mental illness, the practice of deploying berserkers was OUTLAWED BY THE 10TH CENTURY. Do the soldiers of the 12th know their fighting anti-ethos has been a war
Tea Party soldiers attempt military coup of OCS, want Occupy to be more like occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan
ONLY IN COLORADO SPRINGS! (SPOILER: OCCUDRAMA ALERT)-- Not satisfied with heckling the OCS antiwar rally on Saturday, some "berserkers" from Fort Carson's 4/4 2/12 regiment thought they'd march on the Occupy events committee meeting Monday and vote to make OCS more like their occupation stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, more pro-killer and all. Or vote OCS out of existence. Cute, as they pretend to uphold everybody's freedom, etc. Apparently the soldiers were following the directions of Right Wing Youtube slackupier Agent Snuffleupagus Doubt, who promised to reopen his faux-occupy website for their coup, as if maintaining the fake OCS Facebook group wasn't anti-occupy enough. True to idiotic form, Doubt's plan was to overwhelm the democratic nature of OCS, forgetting to caution his winged monkeys about embarrassing mechanisms which protect OWS groups from malicious disruptions, many of his troops face disciplinary probation, for starters. But for Agent Duh it's enough to videotape a flash-blob declaring itself king of OCS, and it's done. Emboldened by this virtual occupy, next Mastermind Duh will probably scheme to send Republican operatives to crash the Democratic Caucuses, vote them all Republican, and steal their delegates for Ron Paul! What a plan! 31106
Ft Carson conducts pro forma town hall to clear way for environmental impact of proposed helicopter brigade
OCCUPIED COLORADO SPRINGS- Ft Carson's environmental PR team held what's called a "draft Environmental Assessment," prerequisite to their addition of a Combat Aviation Brigade to America's "Best Hometown in the Army". Except for a car-dealer and realtor giving their attaboys, the citizens comment section weighed solidly AGAINST expansion of war-making and war-training. In true pro forma, Garrison Commander McLaughlin shrugged off the opposition, stating that public input would be answered while the army proceeded as planned. And that's where Occupy will have something to say. 30139
Semper Fido Bitches
COLO. SPRINGS-- Tough crowd at this week's antiwar bannering: the usual plentiful honks of support, but now intermittent servicemen heckling in crew-cutted indignation. And we haven't yet inaugurated our WARMONGERS GO TO HELL banner. The best the driver of a white van-load of them could muster was "Semper Fi" so they must have been Marines because they shout it like it means "America! Fuck Yeah!" Are they taught it's abbreviated Latin for Always Faithful? I believe Fidelis is the root of Fido. 23847
Afghans mutilated by US kill teams are then disfigured by Der Spiegel editors
You're shot up at random by a US kill team eager to engage Call Of Duty in the full-gore mode, who pose with you for a trophy pic, then when it sees the light of day, photo editors decide it best to shield your identity, they say to not dishonor your survivors, but likely to lessen the damning impact of the image. The US soldiers posing with their bloody victims were not holding the heads aloft intending to pixilate the identity of their kill. Why should Der Spiegel rob the unfortunate Afghan victim of his humanity, and the scarce opportunity he has for redress from the systemic brutality being visited upon his people by an invader culture, whose average interaction with his, might be this glimpse of a candid Kodak Moment?
Army “Revolutionary” XM25 weapon will revolutionize US people killing
The $35,000 rifle fires exploding ordnance, enabling US infantrymen to kill people behind walls or at distances of 2,300 ft. No indication that our soldiers can now SEE behind walls, or differentiate between combatants and noncombatants at such great distance. Meaning the XM25 will "revolutionize" killing, as military spokesmen say, probably the same innocents we're massacring now, but an order of higher magnitude. If the same braggarts had a hand in naming the XM25, it means times (X) a magnitude (M) of 25, which I'll bet is an arbitrary underestimation, where Collateral Damage approaches 100%. And get this, the Army assure us that the XM25 can be fired from the safety of distance and from cover, both of which the XM25 deprives of our adversary. "Revolutionary" pretends to reference the spirit of America's only defensible war for our independence, but it really means another leap in the arms race, use of disproportional power, further distorting our inhuman arm's length from war conventions, eliminating "cover" for our victims, but not for our own fighters because our opponents could never afford such a weapon. The DoD's own words. 20696
GI quadruple amputee’s hobby: guns. Army needs a prosthetic for PTSD.
Wounded Army Specialist Brendan Marrocco was this weekend's NYT front page testimonial to the resilience of US soldiers. The VA is finally acknowledging amputee-counts apparently, so we now learn that 988 veterans have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specialist Marrocco lost all four, but is learning to get around. He can walk for stints of up to 15-minutes, and his favorite pastime? Shooting guns.
Let them eat army boots!
After the airport in Haiti was passed into US control, the Guardian newspaper is reporting controllers are diverting aid flights in favor of US Army landings. International aid efforts are being sent to the Dominican Republic while the US concentrates on getting boots on the ground. Meanwhile the US Navy has positioned an aircraft carrier to serve as a "floating airport" for flights to where? 13895
Army offers Mental Resiliency Training to harden the conscience against PTSD
What do you make of the VA study indicating that more stateside military drone operators suffer higher Post Traumatic Stress Disorder than soldiers in actual combat? It may point to the obvious, that PTSD comes less from being shell-shocked under fire and more from committing deeds to haunt the conscience. If our troops weren't being asked to act inhumanely, perhaps we'd see fewer suicides, or homeless and maladapted vets. Instead the Army has announced it will give all its soldiers "mental resiliency training." This might inoculate their fear of coming home to face their loved ones, but will it steel them against redemption?
That’s how many Black Hawk Down?
COLO. SPRINGS- A spectacular migration of Army attack helicopters traversed the city sky yesterday, flying south to Ft Carson where they will catch trains to faraway winter fear-breeding grounds in the news. 10558
Afghan Taliban set high POW standard
There it is. The Afghans have captured a POW, we've been sent his image in RGB with a personal message to the American public. US military spokesmen are calling the video a violation of the laws of war. Secretary of State Clinton is calling it "just outrageous and a real sign of desperation and inappropriate criminal behavior." She's probably right about the desperation. But showing no signs of nudity, degradation, brutalization or rigor mortis, Army Private Bergdahl is faring better than any US detainee. 8224
US Army blankets are generic today
When I was assembling my dorm room kit for college, I wanted an army blanket as a bed cover. For reasons I must have understood better then, the heavy duty olive drab wool, emblazoned with a U.S. monogram, was inarguably cool. Its generic quality was iconic, thus it had a caché more authentic than a stack of Izods. I considered my Army blanket to be the No. 2 Pencil of bed linens. 7265
Hummel volunteers were unfit for Nazis
Godmother Superior of kitsch, Maria Innocentia Hummel, intended her “Volunteers” to be a plea for peace. The forlorn would-be soldiers were an insult to Hitler, but a half century later, the United States would pervert Hummel’s satire and enlist the little boys into the war against Iraq.
The military recruitment playground
We at Not My Tribe have become increasingly accustomed to combating Israeli military propaganda coming this web site's way, but what about the US military recruitment playground that we live our lives so immersed in? It's so all around us so much that we sometimes don't even see it and most of our neighbors just take it for granted like earth, wind, and fire. And now, here's a new case of the US military propaganda machine going after our kids. It's a Philadelphia area 'playground' for kids created by the Pentagon called The Army Experience... Pretty sick!
The no-less-combatant support services
LEXINGTON, NEBRASKA- Along I-80, we stopped to see the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles. While visitors cannot help but be drawn to the tanks and guns, the large collection of jeeps and trucks make clear the tremendous resources and personnel required behind-the-lines to support any combat operations, their function every bit as lethal.
Ft Carson shredding casualty records
IS THE US-ARMY-BEDMATE-GAZETTE GOING TO REPORT THIS STORY? Salon Magazine was leaked helmet-cam video showing the 2006 deaths of two US soldiers in Ramadi, by friendly fire, which the US Army is still attributing to Iraqi insurgents. Within hours of breaking the story, soldiers working in Fort Carson offices were ordered to shred the documents relating to the slain PFCs. Fortunately Salon was leaked this development as well. 5569
Marine recruiters pursue high schoolers
COLORADO SPRINGS- I saw a local military-education atrocity the other day when I passed a school as kids recessed for lunch. Next time I'll have a camera and I won't be alone making sure it doesn't happen again. 4746
A letter from an American Soldier
I received a well written letter yesterday from an American Soldier. It was addressed to me, but I thought I'd post his arguments for general comment. 4674
Fort Carson’s boot on your 4th of July
I just love the Gazette's headline on their July 4th front page: POST IS KEEPING TABS ON ITS 'BOOTPRINT'. Is it a cute eco play on words, or an ironic malapropism? About collateral damage, Rumsfeld famously said the US doesn't do body counts. I am reminded of course of George's Orwell's foretelling: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever." 3635
PCMS wildfire initiates Army PHASE 1B
PINON CANYON MANEUVER SITE, Colo- The US Army refused assistance in fighting the PCMS Bridger Fire, and now it's jumped the Pergatoire River and is leading the aquisition of PARCELS 1B and 2A, a year ahead of the Army's until now thwarted expansion schedule. 3515
Pinon Canyon public meeting WED 3PM
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO- As previously announced, the Army is conduction a public scoping meeting on May 21 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Colorado Springs about their tentative Pinon Canyon takings. At 6:30pm they'll outline their need to Grow-The-Army (GTA) on account of the GD-GWOT. Southeastern Colorado ranchers intend to voice their opposition at an early session 3-6pm and boycott the 6:30 public relations meeting. Here's an invitation from Bill Sulzman: 3365
USA acronyms want Pinon Canyon again
May 8 PSA from the DECAM/NEPA coordinator at the FCPAO: (Release 08-056) FORT CARSON, COLO.-- Part of GTA effort: USA issues NOI to prepare an EIS for bringing IBCT and CAB to USAFC and the PCMS, against the NAA. PUBLIC SCOPING MEETINGS (to hear NAA!) are May 20 in TAD, May 21 in COS (6:30PM Crowne Plaza Hotel) and May 22 in LHX. 3340