The Biased Observer

The 99 and the 1

2012-01-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I don’t catch on right away.

Take this 1 and 99 stuff.

Or is it 1% and 99%?

In any case there was a lot of hoopla about it. Maybe there still is. I am sometimes left out of the hoopla loop.

I think it was about rich people having bunches and bunches of money. I think that’s why they call them rich people. In the present circumstance, they seem to have so much that they are called super rich. I guess if I had bunches and bunches of money that would be super so I’m OK with the term super rich or super rich.

I suppose some of this is about senior corporate officers getting paid more than they are worth and getting away with some unscrupulous practices. It seems we only get upset about that when we are not getting our cut (let’s be civil and call it a dividend) of these money for nothing returns. My apologies to Dire Straits for the metaphoric association.

On second thought, no apology is needed.

It is really hard for me to comprehend why people would camp out on Wall Street or in the business district of any city over how much money someone or some company is making.

Really?

Are we so blind as not to see that in comparison to most of the world, we are all super rich? Those people on welfare and food stamps are even rich compared to most of the world.

I don’t live for money, but if I don’t have enough for what I need, then I cut expenses or make more. I just can’t see myself camping out in front of someone’s office because they make more than I do.

I could be wrong.

Not about our skewed perspectives on wealth and selfishness and absurd protests—I could be wrong about the hubbub over the 99 and the 1.

This must be about the less than 1% of the adult population that chooses to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Yes, that must be it.

Not even 1 out of 100 serves our country in this way. The 99 are free to pursue happiness and wealth, fame and fortune, love and longevity in the safety of the U.S. of America.

The problem is that this 1% doesn’t occupy Wall Street or Main Street or Bourbon Street. Many occupy a fighting hole in some gawd-awful places or live afloat in spaces which would grant an inmate early release from prison for reasons of overcrowding.

Why?

Because when they volunteered to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, they set aside some personal rights and comforts. Why are they where they are?

That’s where they were sent.

They followed orders.

They did not complain.

Yes, that must be what all the hoopla and hubbub are about in this 1 and 99 business.

It would surely be discouraging to a young Marine scraping the sand off of his cold MRE to think that back home people were sitting on their lazy butts complaining about how much money somebody else made and how that wasn’t fair and how somebody should do something about it and how bad they have it in the greatest nation the world has ever known.

But sometimes, I am just out of the loop.

Perhaps if I would spend less time enjoying the blessings of liberty and more time nitpicking what’s going on with everyone else, then I would be in the know.

Good luck with that.

I think that all those who are camped out and complaining are majoring in the minors and missing the big picture altogether.

That big picture says that you are blessed beyond a measure that most of the world has ever experienced.

Count your blessings.

Quit pouting.

Get to work.

Or, better yet, get down to an Armed Forces Recruiting Center, and say, “Sign me up. I want to be the 1 and not the 99.”

Walgreens to snub Vets in 2012

2011-12-23T07:46:00.000-08:00

The national pharmacy and general merchandise chain Walgreens is giving veterans and their families the middle finger instead of a salute come 2012.

If you are on Tricare you will have to pay the full amount for your prescription and then complete paperwork to be reimbursed by your insurance if you get your prescription filled at Walgreens.

Really?

Yes.

Why snub the Vets?

It’s all about money.

This is one of the hidden costs of going to war and pretending we are not at war. We don’t ration. We don’t retool industry to win wars. We try to make them invisible to the general public.

Those who have loved ones in combat zones feel the impact of the war.

Those who lose loved ones feel the impact of the war.

Businesses, well it is business as usual. That means it is all about the bottom line.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we need a law to compel Walgreens to respect those who provided them safe haven to pursue profit.

I don’t like laws that make us do things we should do out of honor or respect.

No laws, please.

But I won’t be shopping at Walgreens.

I will speak their language—the language of currency.

I once sent all my photo work to Walgreens. That’s over.

They occasionally have some vitamins on sale. You know, the buy one get one free or buy one get one half-off. They still make plenty of profit even during the sales.

No more vitamins from Walgreens.

I usually drop a couple hundred bucks a year on cold and flu medicines, ankle wraps, Band-Aids, and other similar items. Walmart also carries these. Come to think of it, so do many small town, mom and pop pharmacies that are struggling to get by. Perhaps this will work out well for them.

Will my lost revenue mean anything to Walgreen’s bottom line?

Probably not much.

If all the men and women in the armed forces, retirees, and their families decided not to patronize this establishment that would make some difference, but surely Walgreens has already factored this in and will make up the difference by sales to other customers.

If Americans as a whole decided that this was not acceptable, that would wake up the money changers at Walgreen’s headquarters.

The problem is that when the general public does not feel the impact of the nation at war, there is no appreciation for those in uniform. We clap at the airports when a serviceman gets off an airplane, but will we forgo the convenience of just dropping in for a couple items and continue filling the coffers of Walgreens executives?

We tell the young woman returning from overseas that we appreciate her service, but do we appreciated it enough to send Walgreens a message?

Sadly, most don’t.

That’s the cost of being at war and pretending you are not at war. You get to keep your comfort zone and don’t have to consider the consequences.

Walgreens can do what they want. They will just do it without my money.

That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.

Thomas Paine

In God is our Trust--straight from the National Anthem

2011-09-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

We often learn theology from our music. Perhaps that’s not the best way, but it is the way that sticks with us. Who among us cannot call upon a verse or two from Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, When Peace Like a River, or Just As I Am in a moment of need.

Biblical reading and exegesis might be the better tools, but it is our music that we carry with us.

So too is the case for our patriotic music. There isn’t too much new on the patriotic scene lately. An occasional country and western artist will take a shot at it. Nothing really compares to The Star Spangled Banner.

We normally just sing the first verse of this at official gatherings and sporting events, but we would be well served to invest a full five minutes and sing or at least listen to all 4 verses.

The first verse begins and ends with a question.

The first question is to those engaged in the battle for freedom in the American Colonies. Can you see our flag on this new morning after the night long battle?

The second question is asked to each succeeding generation. Does that Star Spangled Banner still wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave? Have we preserved what was so nobly fought for?

The remaining verses offer no greater question. Instead they include affirmations of patriots who have trusted their grand experiment to an almighty God.

The Star Spangled Banner

By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Gaddaffi Captured!

2011-08-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

Gaddaffi Captured!

Or Qaddafi killed.

Or Gaddaffi surfaces in Yemen.

Or Muammar Gaddaffi still at large.

These are the headlines many are waiting for as they watch the 24 hour news stations.

None of these are the main story line in Libya.

What is?

That regime change will have come from within with support from western powers and the concurrence of the Arab League.

Unlike Iraq and Afghanistan where regime change was produced by external, mainly U.S. forces; Libya is a case study in a true popular movement in the Middle East. This is what President George H. W. Bush had hope for in Iraq at the end of the first Gulf War.

While entry into this conflict further eroded the liberty of all Americans; Libyans are tasting an opportunity to engage in self rule, and perhaps even some form of democracy. This was a movement that began with the Libyan people.

Statesmen from around the globe should be more focused on offering assistance on an as requested basis. Supporting nations should be reserved, but responsive when the requests are presented. That is, let’s not be pushy, but let’s be on time once the new government needs help being the new government.

The United States needed a little help from France in the Revolutionary War, but this continental revolt was surely an American affair. Likewise, what is happening in Libya is home grown change. Let’s see how this goes if we stay in the background and only help when asked.

There is one more to add to the list of Gaffaffi possibilities. Gaddaffi counter attacks! We have the luxury of looking to the future. In Libya, these makeshift militiamen still have a fight to finish.

Let he who is without an American Flag cast out the first thought...What?

2011-08-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

I received the following email about a dozen times today. What should I think?

ABC News Joins Obama - Bans American Flag Lapel Pins

Barbara Walters said that this was going to hurt ABC bad. As you know, she works for ABC.

YESTERDAY THE BRASS AT ABC NEWS ISSUED ORDERS FORBIDDING REPORTERS TO WEAR LAPEL PIN AMERICAN FLAGS OR OTHER PATRIOTIC INSIGNIA. THEIR REASONING WAS THAT ABC SHOULD REMAIN NEUTRAL ABOUT 'CAUSES'.

SINCE WHEN IS PATRIOTISM TO BE DISCOURAGED?

I URGE YOU TO BOYCOTT ABC AND ITS SPONSORS AND AFFILIATES. WE ARE SLOWLY LOSING EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY STANDS FOR AND

EVERYTHING OUR MEN AND WOMEN FOUGHT AND DIED TO PRESERVE! PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY AS YOU CAN.

THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED THROUGH:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/abcflag.htm

THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE CIRCULATED...QUICKLY

What should I think?

I think that I should think before forwarding this. It is one of those emails that once again plays upon ignorance and emotion.

What? A Marine and a pastor who won’t immediately jump on the Obama-Free Press Bashing Band Wagon: Who’d a thunk it?

First, ABC news did not join Barrack Obama in any campaign. This lumping together of somewhat similar actions into a Presidential-Free Press Consortium or Conspiracy is what has put otherwise good hearted Americans at the bottom of the garbage heap of critical thinking.

Next, the press is patriotic when it seems the least patriotic. It is the watchdog of government. The watchdog has been tamed, taught tricks, and otherwise manipulated by greed, hunger for power and prominence, and other corrupting factors over the years; but it is still the best we have.

The press poses an interesting paradox.

The very government that the free press must be critical of is the same government charged to protect its rights to be critical. No free press would want the very instrument of its protection to succumb to any force—internal or external—that would remove this protection.

It is a delicate balance that exists only in controversy.

The press and the government charged to provide for the common defense so that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States remains intact must be frequently at odds. There is nothing unpatriotic about that.

You may or may not like our current president. That’s your prerogative.

You may or may not like ABC news. That’s your prerogative.

Your reasonable act of patriotism is to thank God and thank two centuries worth of selfless Americans that you can disagree with your political leaders and have a free press to be upset with.

Think more.

Bash each other less.

Put others before self.

That will move us more towards patriotism than forwarding another email.

Click like, forward the link to this article to 10,000 of your most intimate friends, and hold your breath until you pass out; or not!

Wear your lapel pin if you like. Mine has both the National Ensign and the Marine Corps Colors.

Let’s just agree to think before we forward.

Reserve Training for Active Forces

2011-05-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

I first copyrighted this article in 1989, almost ten years before I had ever heard of Lateral Thinking, but this idea was the direct result of an arising provocation. That provocation is that we should train our active forces like our reserves. Taken at face value, this proposal should be rejected as ridiculous. When used as a tool to get off of the main track of thinking, it produced what I believe to be a very workable and productive idea which I was able to implement selectively in the remainder of my active duty career.

RESERVE TRAINING FOR ACTIVE FORCES

Every year thousands of Marine reservists conduct approximately two weeks of active duty training. In addition to being an essential part of their service obligation such active duty periods are the focus of an entire year's training. For several months prior to the active duty dates much shorter weekend training periods (drills) are conducted to bring the unit's skill level to a point where the two week training period can be maximized. At this point, some of you have already classified this introduction and its author as the master of the obvious. Of course this is how the reserve program works--one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer, but before we dismiss the entire reserve establishment as a manpower pool that trains so infrequently as to earn them the label "weekend warriors" we must first ask the singular question: How much training can a unit get in one weekend? When asked rhetorically only to dismiss the viability of employing reserve forces in a future conflict, we do not get an answer. When this question is examined in detail; however, the best kept secret of the Marine Corps Reserve is revealed to the benefit of all leaders who recognize time as one of our most valuable training resources. Training during a reserve drill weekend is the epitome of time management and as such should be incorporated into the training schedules of active duty forces.

A drill weekend for active forces? Perhaps you think that weekly urinalysis screening for the author would be more appropriate. Before we dismiss the idea altogether. let's look at what goes into such a weekend. Drill dates are normally promulgated by an annual training plan. This is mandated by the fact that our reserve Marines must find some livelihood to sustain them for the majority of the year and they must appease their employers with "advance notice." By providing this notice to employers. we have also provided such notice to the Marines and their leaders. What active duty unit can you think of that can tell you with a reasonable degree of certainty what training they will conduct 10 or 11 months from now. By identifying training dates and the training objectives to accompany them, unit leaders have ample time to focus their efforts upon making each drill weekend as productive as possible. While an unannounced test of a reserve unit's mobilization readiness may alter this schedule or the objectives for a given drill, over 90 percent of the scheduled training will likely be conducted exactly as forecast. This is not to dismiss the benefits of maintaining an operational tempo which often precludes such advanced, accurate planning. The routine (if such a word can ever be used in an active duty unit) of successfully managing all of the administrative, operational, logistical, and house keeping functions required to keep a unit viable on a daily basis often produces the best training in command and staff operations which the Marine Corps has to offer. The price of maintaining such an operational tempo is often the loss of focus. This is where we can learn from our reserve establishment.

A "drill" does not simply materialize as a successful training evolution, and advance notice does not in itself constitute preparation. The keys to a successful drill are the advance identification of training objectives, advance preparation of all key personnel, and the advance preparation of all training areas. It is the reserve unit leaders and the unit's Inspector-Instructor Staff which share these self-imposed taskings. A weapons shoot or live fire exercise, while it may look good on a training plan, is not a training objective. Objectives must be more tangible. They must be specific enough that they can be translated into unit missions. A training objective for part of a drill weekend might be a platoon single envelopment of a known enemy position. Conditions further delineating this training objective, such as during hours of reduced visibility, in a contaminated environment, or with MILES gear can be added based upon what the commander wants to accomplish. If it is not specifically stated by the commander or deduced by his junior leaders it is not a training objective. If the training objective of the commander is to evaluate the issue and receipt of combat orders, the platoon single envelopment may only be a graphic aid to this evaluation. Specific objectives communicated well in advance of the training dates are all important.

Once objectives have been identified, preparation to conduct training begins. While classroom instruction is the least desirable method of training, an assessment of the unit's skill level must be made to determine if any such instruction is mandated before application and evaluation phases may commence. If "classes" must be included in the schedule, instructors should be identified simultaneously. The concept that every Marine should be taught by his own leaders--especially at the NCO level--holds true for reserve training as well as for regular units. Such a concept nurtures the mutual respect required between an NCO and his Marines, mandates technical expertise on the part of the instructing NCO, and enhances camaraderie. On certain occasions, however! it may be beneficial to deviate from this philosophy. Certain training requirements which may be low on a commander's priority list may. be best taught by a single instructor, thus permitting other leaders to focus upon those training objectives with a higher priority. Such a deviation should be a conscious decision, and not one of convenience. In either case, the early identification of Instructors provides ample opportunity for quality training preparation.

Additional preparations required include the scheduling of ranges and training areas, ammunition, chow, transportation, march routes, air requests, and numerous other details which collectively are labeled training support. It is in this area that reserve training is truly unique, and it is the Inspector-Instructor Staff which provides reserve training with this exceptional characteristic. Let's say that one of the company training objectives for a drill weekend is rifle requalification. Instinctively, we visualize a training support checklist which includes a known distance range, ammunition, ear plugs, pre-fire inspections, range regulations, safety officers, safety vehicles and the like. We know that target assignments must be made, coaches assigned, line and pitt NCOs assigned and other elements not only of qualification, but of establishing every working part of such a detail. This is where the unique character of the Inspector-Instructor Staff comes fully into play. The staff ask, in addition to reinforcing and evaluating the marksmanship skills of the company, are their other training objectives which the commander wants to accomplish during this evolution, to wit: Does he want to train his officers and noncommissioned officers how to run the range? If the answer is yes, then range OICs and range safety officers must be assigned from the reserve unit. The officer in charge of the range then ensures that continuous coordination is made with all external agencies, that specific taskings are promulgated, and that the entirety of the detail is supervised. Faced often with only a range facility aboard a reserve installation, he must construct the detail from the ground up. Such decisions frequently result in exceptionally beneficial experience for young officers and NCOs. The pitfall most commonly associated with this course of action is that if preparations are not sufficiently thorough, Marines are left waiting to train. The alternative to this course of action is to leave the task of range preparation in the hands of the Inspector-Instructor Staff. This should be done when the training of a reserve leader to prepare and supervise a firing range is not a command objective, when that leader's expertise is required elsewhere, or when it is the objective of the command to focus upon exclusive training objectives. The beauty of training in the reserves is that the two objectives are not mutually exclusive. A reserve officer could be assigned as the Officer in Charge of requalification, and provided the resources of the Inspector-Instructor Staff He could devise and coordinate his plans for the execution of training while using the Inspector-Instructor Staff as a sounding board. Discrepancies could be identified and corrected well in advance of the training date, the Inspector-Instructor Staff could execute the support functions and the entire leadership of the reserve unit could focus upon their training objectives.

Other preparations necessary for leaders involve knowing the overall game plan. If a platoon leader or squad leader knows that the focus of training for a weekend drill is unit live fire and movement, but does not know that there is only one range which will support this training and that only one squad can train on the range at a given time; he will not be able to plan the most efficient use of his time. If he knows that four other squads will run through the range before it is his turn and no other training is directed while he waits; then he can plan his own training schedule: Focusing on preparing for the squad fire and movement, rehearsing signals and SOPs, or practicing other battle skills which he believes need work. In addition to identifying the overall training plan, advance notice of administrative requirements must be promulgated. If a unit leader knows that he has three Marines who must verify their record of emergency data and that his unit is one of the last to draw weapons, he can complete these administrative requirements while the rest of the unit prepares to go to the field. A detailed plan for all weekend activities--not just training--will permit the small unit leader to better organize his time and create his own training opportunities. Such a preparatory effort manifests itself in numerous concurrent training activities during the execution phase. The fielding of the Battle Drill Guide has greatly consolidated many of the doctrinal references which formerly required hours of research in preparation for training. Once momentum is established in the area of concurrent training, junior leaders adopt the philosophy that if they encounter ten unscheduled minutes, they will take one minute to plan training for the next nine.

The third area which makes for a successful training weekend is the advanced preparation of training areas. How many times have you been the victim of arriving at a training area only to find out that as much of your "field time" will be spent in preparing to execute the training as will be used in its actual execution~ If the training objective is to negotiate obstacles and booby traps, such training aids should be in place upon your arrival. Extensive use of well informed advance parties can make this a reality. If the focus of training is on trench clearing techniques, trenches should be prepared before the arrival of the unit to be trained. The entire concept of training must not only be clear to the unit leaders, but to all members of the advance party who must effect the necessary training aids. During an ambitious training weekend (anything less would be a criminal waste of precious time) several advance parties may be necessary. During such a weekend, leadership and manpower assets may be overextended if not carefully planned. If there are simply not enough Marines to accomplish advance party tasks concurrently, they must be planned in succession. A recent drill weekend involved a requalification detail for those Marine_sin a rifle company that had not qualified during the fiscal year. An advance party emplaced all communication assets, targets, and an ammunition distribution point in advance of the main body. As this was individual training, and the training which would follow was unit training, those Marines already qualified were designated the supporting attack and assigned to pitt details, coaching details, and most importantly additional advance parties. The other weekend training objectives included the throwing of practice and live hand grenades, platoon live fire and movement, call for fire exercises for NCOs, squad infiltration through obstacles and booby traps, chemical agent identification, and concurrent training for individual squads based upon an evaluation administered during the previous month. While qualification firing took place on one range, communication assets and ammunition were staged on others, a terrain model was constructed for use with the pneumatic mortar training device, and a booby trap course was emplaced. By the time the shooters had finished policing their brass, other training areas and ranges were ready to be used. Such preparation produces a hit the deck running attitude among the Marines to be trained. Imagine moving to a new duty station and finding all of your household effects already moved into your new quarters just the way you want them. While such an analogy may not sit well at the TMO office, such first class treatment of your target training group results in first rate training.

Before we relegate these procedures to the "great for reserves, but it won't work here" file, let's examine just what it would take to effect a "drill weekend" for active forces and what the benefits would actually be. The first step is to schedule the drill. Have we ever stopped to consider how many potential training opportunities have been lost simply because a commander or training officer didn't take the time to put pen to paper and formalize the idea. By incorporating such an event into the quarterly training bulletin or Training Exercise Employment Plan (TEEP) of a unit, that unit has taken the first and most important step in resolving to accomplish the training.

The next step is to identify the training to be accomplished and the target training group. If a company wants to train or evaluate its squads, then the majority of the training support personnel could be provided from the company and Platoon headquarters. If the training planned is for a larger unit, then additional assistance may be required. One source of personnel for training support would be from another unit. Let's examine this concept in an infantry battalion. One company is scheduled for a drill weekend in a given month while another company from the same battalion is designated as the supporting unit. This is not really a new concept! we use it tactically on a routine basis. The supporting company would perform many of the same tasks which the Inspector-Instructor Staff performs for a reserve unit. During a three month period, each rifle company would be scheduled once for a drill weekend and once in support of a drill weekend (see schematic). Other schedules could be implemented to incorporate the weapons company and the Headquarters and Service company into such a plan.

The support company would provide aggressors, evaluators, controllers~ range officers. and other personnel required to create this optimal training environment. This unit would emplace obstacles, stage ammunition and other tasks which would detract from the "drilling" unit's focus on training. The support company would also replace Marines from the drilling unit on mess duty guard duty, or other duties which would not permit them to participate in the company's training. Such coordination would require command emphasis at least one level above the drilling unit. The overall intent of the support company would be to free the drilling unit from all collateral commitments.

The benefit of such efforts must be obvious. That which is so frequently lost among extensive concurrent commitments can be regained-- a focus on training. I am sure that every commander can account for where his Marines are when his unit goes to the field for training, but how many of them are actually accounted for instead of in the field training. How much training time is lost to actual preparation while Marines wait? With the drill approach, a weekend focused on nothing but training for the entire company could become a reality.

Such an approach could best be conducted for combat units, but I am sure that variants could be incorporated for combat support units or base support units as well. A certain amount of training time would be lost to those assigned support missions, but this is a very fair trade for a commensurate amount of quality training time. Those assigned the training support for another unit will also acquire an insight as to what is required to support their own training.

There are those who will dismiss this idea as too taxing on their already over-committed Marines. Another weekend in the field? How many commitments can we handle at once? The fact that most units are committed to the point where they can barely train a fragment of their force is not contested; indeed, it is the point of this argument. The drill weekend concept simply designates one unit as the point of main effort and permits that commander to train all of his Marines--to provide them quality training, unhampered by mess duty guard duty, working parties, and the other routine commitments which compete for the time of his Marines. Time off--liberty--is easy. It can be effected piecemeal and equitably under the cognizance of concerned leaders. Getting an entire unit free from collateral commitments on the other hand is a monumental task and requires the support, perhaps the direction, of senior commanders. The commander who cannot find the time to compensate his Marines for this additional weekend of training is not commanding, he is simply reacting to unprioritized commitments. The drill weekend for active forces is a viable course of action which permits a commander to conduct quality training for his entire unit in an environment of competing commitments.

The last ditch ar~ument of those who would contend that such an approach would not work for active forces is directed at the Inspector-Instructor Staffs assigned to each reserve unit. The contention that such staffs only task is to support such training is totally unfounded. Inspector-Instructor Staffs have an operational tempo comparable to any unit in the Marine Corps and such a tempo is maintained in as many functional areas as a battalion or regimental staff contends with little or no depth of personnel. Perhaps there was a time in which a Marine on such duty could bag his limit during hunting season or significantly lower his golf handicap, but such is not the case today. If an Inspector-Instructor Staff can create such an optimal training environment (which it can and does), then it can be done elsewhere.

The term "weekend" is only incidentally attached to the word drill If a unit wanted to implement this approach during the middle of a week, it would certainly be feasible; however, the weekend approach may still provide more opportunities for a unit to acquire ranges and facilities aboard certain bases. Regardless of the days selected, the concept remains the same. Isolate the unit scheduled for training from all concurrent duties through the employment of a supporting unit. Once this is accomplished, the quality of training is limited only by the imagination of that unit's leaders.

Westboro Baptist prevails in Supreme Court. Messages of God is hate continue.

2011-05-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

In the annals of American Liberty we can add another victory for free speech. This victory stands upon such precedents as Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell. Some will claim it is not only a victory for free speech but for religion as the prevailing party was actually the Westboro Baptist Church. Yes, that is the church that holds protests at military funerals and has as its website godhatesfags.com.*

The actual citation for the case is SNYDER v. PHELPS ET AL.; CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT; No. 09–751. Argued October 6, 2010—Decided March 2, 2011.

Before we move too quickly to the celebration, let us consider the cost of this First Amendment victory. Surely, the truest test of free speech is that the speech which is most distasteful to the majority is permitted along with that which causes little controversy or consternation.

These protests at military funerals, specifically at the burial service for Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, seem to ignore the fact that only by the spilt blood of American patriots do we have the right to free speech. Why target the grieving? The bereaved family will not change the national policies or rewrite legislation that seems to offend this church.

This is more than in bad taste. It is unqualified cowardice. It is the methodology of the bully. It is to use a right designed to keep us free from tyranny and oppression as a tool of torment. We must ask, to what end?

To aggravate matters, this was the work of a church. How does a church proclaim God’s righteousness and love on Sunday, teach judge not lest you be judged on Wednesday evening, and then rally to harass the grieving family of a Marine killed in service to his country? Of all organizations in the world, should not the church of which Jesus is the very cornerstone have the decency not to lash out at those who need mercy the most.

I agree with the court’s decision. Free speech is one of our most vulnerable rights. Justice Alito’s argument that “Allowing family members to have a few hours of peace without harassment does not undermine public debate” is compelling—very compelling, but it is insufficient in light of what is at stake.

It was not so long ago that the Obama administration declared that Fox News was not news media at all. Granted, most people either love or hate Fox News, but they are still a news organization. Excluding them by presidential edict would put other civil liberties on the chopping block forthwith.

Likewise, the protesters who deprived the family of Lance Corporal Snyder a few moments of peace at a most vulnerable time are within the rights afforded them. It seems that the very rights that preserve our liberty also preserve the right of a church to make a horse’s ass of itself.

It is this last item that offends me most as a pastor and as a Marine. The same Amendment that grants freedom of speech also protects the free exercise of religion. What is offensive is that this one church in search of a national spotlight has taken a gospel of peace and turned it into a diatribe of hate.

The dead Marine stayed true to his core values—honor, courage, and commitment. Had the church done the same and brought a message of love one another into the national spotlight, we might actually be accused of being a Christian nation. There doesn’t seem to be much chance of that today. That is fruit to the Westboro church’s credit.

If you were accused of being a Marine, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Lance corporal Snyder: Guilty as charged.

If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Westboro Baptist Church: Acquitted.

Semper Fidelis Love one another

* I deliberately did not capitalize the word god in this web address. The god this church worships is surely not the God of Abraham, God the Father, or the God who says he is love. The website is full of god hates everything lists. He surely cannot be the one who told us not to judge, lest we be judged. If this church believes that they are worshiping the one true God, I pray that they uphold every pen stroke of the law, for they have surely forsaken God’s grace and mercy and appointed themselves judge of all.

Fair in an Unfair World - A screenplay about American Empire Building

2011-04-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

A man (Bob Johnston) in a suit pumping gas into his SUV. He holds the gas nozzle in the vehicle and pumps while he looks up to the station’s price sign. It reads Premium Unleaded 99. A second SUV pulls up the the pump behind Johnston’s. Mike Cantell gets out dressed in slacks and a polo shirt.

Bob Johnston (looking down from the sign at the vehicle behind him): Mike. Mike Cantell?

Mike Cantell: Bob! Man is that really you? What brings you to Houston?

Bob: Took a job here.

Mike: Doin’ what?

Bob: Oil. Got an easy desk job shuffling papers.

Mike: I thought you were doing the battalion commander bit with the 82^nd Airborne.

Bob: I was, but when they offered early retirements—I couldn’t resist. How about you? You’re not in the Corps with that hair.

Mike: No. I took an early retirement too. I’ve got family near here so…

Bob: You took an oil company job too.

Mike: Yeah. The 9-5, plenty of time at home offer was tough to turn down. When they call you and ask if you want to do very little for six figures a year, it’s real hard to say no.

Bob: I figured they made the same offer to everyone. I guess there is some loyalty in the business world. You know it’s been over two years now.

Mike: Those were two tough years, Bob. I got a Battalion at Camp Lejeune, but couldn’t focus on what I was supposed to be doing. It was what I wanted my whole career, and when I got it, I hated every minute of it.

Bob: I know. I was doing the things I always thought I would do with a battalion, but I just couldn’t stand in front of my soldiers any more and tell them they were defending a great nation--that the sacrifices they made were for freedom or democracy or any of that other stuff that used to make me stand tall when I heard the National Anthem.

Mike: Do you think it would have been better if…

Bob: Didn’t we ask ourselves that a couple years ago?

Mike: I can still remember a little of the cynical innocence I knew before it all happened. I can remember standing on the top of Jabal Sanam and…

Switch to:

Jabal Sanam, elevation 142 meters above sea level. Highest point in the Iraq-Kuwait DMZ. A white Toyota Land Crusier with black UN letters and a blue UN flag climb the winding dirt road to the top. Both military observers in the vehicle are unarmed and wearing blue berets.

Major Li (Peoples Republic of China): Almost to the top. Thanks for letting me drive.

Major Johnston (US Army): You’re doing fine, just relax.

Major Li: Driving time is scarce enough in my country. Getting to use 4 wheel drive on a climb like this is better than MSA.

Major Johnston: You must not get to drive much.

Major Li: When I return to China, I may be able to buy a small car, but China’s limited reliance on personal vehicles also means there aren’t as many good roads. I could never afford a four-wheel drive.

Johnston (pointing): Let’s take that spot right over there.

Li: Looks like one of your Marine friends.

Johnston: Mike Cantell.

Li: Go ahead and have a national conversation with him. I’ll talk to Commander Perez.

Johnston: You make it sound like we’re discussing matters of grave national concern. Major Cantell is from Texas. He just calls it shooting the …well never mind, I don’t want to mix in any American slang into your near perfect English.

Li: English is the official mission language.

Johnston (exiting the vehicle): So the Brits remind me at every opportunity.

Cantell (walking out to meet Johnston in an area between the UN vehicles): About time you got here Bob.

Johnston: We’re 20 minutes early Jarhead.

Cantell: I know, but Perez is driving me crazy to get down the hill. He’s only got two weeks left here and can’t sit still for 5 minutes.

Johnston: This observer stuff is for the birds.

Cantell: Beats a desk job doesn’t it?

Johnston: I don’t know anymore. Every time I go back to KC for a couple days rest I just get ticked off and want to come back out.

Cantell: I know. Some Kuwaiti pulled up next to me last week, rolled down the window of his 2000 Chevy Caprice, and yelled Yankee go home.

Johnston: That was original. One of the many benefits of taking up temporary residence in Kuwait City.

Cantell: What’d you hear on the contingency strength?

Johnston: Looks like we’re holding at 12 Americans. The other primary members are still providing 15, so it would look bad for us to reduce any more. That’s the party line anyway.

Cantell: We should be able to shoot the messenger every once in a while. Just to keep up morale.

Johnston: Well, see how this grabs you. Were meeting with one of the Under Secretaries of State and two from Defense tomorrow—the entire contingent.

Cantell: Not dress blues at ChiChi’s again?

Johnston: No, at the prepositioning facility at Doha. You can come as you are. Besides, a lot of the ChiChi’s in the states have closed. Be thankful for your Arabian Gulf blessings.

Cantell: I’m supposed to visit the Iraqi regiment outside the DMZ tomorrow. What time’s the meeting.

Johnston: The bigwigs don’t hit Kuwaiti International until 1400. See if you can make your liaison visit in the morning.

Cantell: One of the Russians is going with me as interpreter. I love getting Russians up early.

Johnston: The fine diplomacy skills of a Marine. You still haven’t told anyone you speak Arabic. Terrible waste of a fine vacation in Monterey.

Cantell: Orders are orders. Listen, don’t speak.

Johnston (Looking at Cantell’s vehicle): You’d better get down the hill. It looks like Perez is going to wet his pants if you don’t go now.

Cantell (pointing west): There’s a storm headed your way.

Johnston: Tell me about it. Wouldn’t want to leave a Marine out in the weather. See you tomorrow night.

Johnston walks over to Perez and gives him a signal to get out of the driver’s seat. Perez reluctantly obliges.

Perez: You Americans think your run the place. In Argentina you would not be so bossy.

Johnston: Sorry, commander. But as anxious as you are to get down that hill and back to your Argentina, I’m a little concerned that you wouldn’t use the road.

Perez: Pushy and humorous is OK.

Vehicle drives down the hill, leaving the other vehicle and two UN officers on the observation post.

U.S. Army base, Doha, Kuwait (Northwest suburb of Kuwait City). Twelve U.S. Officers with UN patches are seated with three men and one woman in suits. A meal has been provided in vat cans and the officers are serving themselves and eating in a picnic atmosphere.

Markus Wellington: Gentlemen, please continue to fill your plates. We’re going to keep this as informal as possible, but I would like to get some introductions out of the way. And as your colonel says it’s OK to get right down to business, we’ll do just that. I am Markus Wellington, usually just go by Mark. I’m the Undersecretary of State and responsible to the Secretary for matters in this part of the world. To my right, with the unusually small portions from the buffet is Jonas Mercury. Jonas with the SecDef and he’s accompanied by Mr. Phillip Harm also with Defense. Ms. Londa Applewood is from the Attorney General’s office.

Johnston (quietly to Cantell): I told you they would get you for drawing lines in the sand like that.

Cantell gives Johnston a friendly elbow and both continue listening.

Two unidentified men bring out a dry erase board on wheels. A sketch of Iraq and Kuwait with the DMZ along their borders is already sketched in.

Markus: Right now you are probably thinking that someone in the State Department surely had a map he could have loaned me.

General laughter that resides quickly.

Markus rights in red dry erase marker TOP SECRET -- NOFORN

There is a general hush among the officers.

Markus: The president sent me on this little goodwill visit, not to draw sketches or make sure that you’re well fed; though we’ll do both. He sent me to convey a message that we have a dilemma in supporting the United Nations effort here. The Arab countries continue to raise the price of oil and the UN is seriously considering lifting the embargo on Iraq. While this might appear to significantly increase the oil supply to the western world, and a corresponding drop in prices; our intel sources tell us that Iraq has brokered a deal with Saudi, Iran, and yes Kuwait to limit their exports to levels that keep prices high for everyone. In fact, it appears that Saudi Arabia will even assist Iraq in rebuilding part of its oil production infrastructure.

Colonel Bill Noble (UN contingent commander): You said Kuwait as well.

Markus: Yes. The same Kuwait that abandon their own country only to have us give it back to them.

Bill: Is this a viable alliance…consortium…arrangement for these countries?

Markus: We believe that it is not only viable, but that the Kuwaitis prefer it to the current arrangement. It seems they are losing standing in the Arab world as an “American Puppet.”

Commander Jeffrey Dalton, USN, UN Observer: We do get the evil eye quite a bit when we’re in Kuwait City. So much for saving their butts…

Markus: Commander, the despising attitude that you receive is but the tip of the iceberg. The Emir of Kuwait was expected to announce his request for withdrawal of all U.S. Forces by the end of next month.

Bill: Was?

Markus: Yes, was. We worked something of a deal of our own. We will execute a major exercise in Kuwait in three months with our Maritime Prepositioned Forces and then withdraw them along with the Army forces here at Doha.

Bill: And then?

Markus: Watch the Iraqi Army roll south through Kuwait into Saudi Arabia.

There is a considerable amount of grumbling among the officers.

Captain Roger Ballistere, USAF, UN Observer: Just give it up!

Jonas Mercury: Captain Ballistere. A man whose name is well known throughout the SecDef’s office.

Numerous officers call out: E F, E F, E F!

Londa Applewood: Did I miss something.

Jonas: Only the near evacuation of Kuwait City about 8 months ago.

Londa: What?

Jonas: It seems that young Captain Ballistere needed a modem connection for his notebook computer and on one of his trips from the DMZ to Kuwait City he stopped in one of the most trafficked computer stores in the city. Accompanied by since departed, Captain Martin, the two entered the store in search of the equipment and were greeted by a friendly Kuwaiti merchant seated among several other Kuwaitis. Normally, a “How are things” greeting would be accompanied by a “fine, thank you; under control, A OK, or some response of little value beyond the conversational reply.

Londa: I take it there was more than the…

Jonas: Oh yes, much more. Our good Roger Ballistere replies with a harmless, “Is your gas tank full?” The entire office of about 18-20 Kuwaitis fell silent and all eyes and ears turned to the good captain, who replied only, “Mine is.” Now you might wonder how some DOD desk jockey like me gets a first hand account of such an incident. It seems that after Captain E.F. Hutton’s computer store stopover, he and Captain Martin proceeded to the UN Headquarters in Umm Qasr, where they proceeded to tell, and re-tell their E.F. Hutton story. Meanwhile back in the real world, our satellites pick up massive congestion along the Fahaheel highway heading into Saudi, and, And! We get a call from the state department that just received a call from the Emir’s palace, that the Emir was about to evacuate to the UAE and wanted to know if the U.S. Air Force would give him escort. Of course by this time, State is up to their ass in alligators with calls from Saudi. Of course in Umm Qasr, our two Captains are up to about their 4^th beer and ready to call it a night, that is until Colonel Bill Noble comes into the UNIKOM club and grabs these two by the stacking swivel for a hasty outdoor conference. Did I forget to mention that this was Colonel Noble’s second day as Contingent commander?

The entire room is in an uproar of laughter.

Londa: This is a crock of ….

Jonas (holding his hand up to finish his story, and also having trouble keeping a straight face): And the real kicker here, also the answer to what you were certainly going to ask, is that the news media never picked up the story, and the Emir and the Saudi’s later denied their requests for help and repeated inquiries.

Londa: I don’t believe a word of it. The Emir would be furious.

Jonas: Furious he was, but composed enough to realize that if he fled the country on a rumor—especially when he never checked with his military commanders—that he would invite more political turmoil than he was ready for.

Londa: I’m sure there was disciplinary action for the captain.

Jonas: Yes, befitting the crime. He was awarded the call sign E F.

Londa: You’re kidding. For an international incident!

Jonas: You said yourself you never heard about it. Not keeping up on current events Londa? Seriously, there was nothing to discipline. The Kuwaiti over-reaction was totally disproportionate to the Captain’s sarcasm, but not unrelated to our visit. I’ll remind you that everything discussed tonight is top secret and not to be discussed again anywhere except in secure meetings called by your contingent commander or myself. Mark, will you continue with your brief.

Markus: By order of the president, your service as UN Observers is terminated effective at 2400 hours this evening. Now through some administrative glitch, we will forget to inform the UN for a few months and it is of course not your duty to inform them. You are all a part of Operation Hutton….not too many captains get an op named for them…at least while their alive. Jonas, the concept please.

Jonas: We have established certain connections in the Republican Guards that are willing to assist in the overthrow of Saddam with our guarantee that the U.S. will support a military republic in Iraq. Our prepositioning exercise will appear routine except that the back load of the prepo ships will be only with equipment requiring depot level maintenance. The remainder of the equipment and forces will be staged in hide positions along the coast road. The road will be closed to all civilian and UN traffic. The locals and the UN won’t like this, but will probably accept it when we accidentally uncover some chemical munitions abandon by the Iraqis during our exercise. The U.S. will of course define a containment area, post local warnings as to any possible airborne drift, and proceed to decontaminate the area. We will turn over some disarmed munitions with the Iraqi markings and throw in a few dead goats for good measure. Kuwaiti police posts in the area will be evacuated and all access to the area will be guarded by Marines in gas masks and chemical over garments. Our reports will be such to keep flight patterns far enough away to avoid any significant detection without enhanced optics. The troops here at Doha are the only ones out of the loop. When they hear the chemical alarms, they will be dawning their protective gear for real. That should take care of any opsec breaches we have here, and hopefully turn them in our favor.

Bill: And then?

Jonas: Colonel, we will watch the Iraqi Army cross the DMZ, proceed at high speed down the Basara highway to Kuwait City and continue into Saudi Arabia.

Jeffrey Dalton: I though we we’re overthrowing Saddam.

Jonas: We are, and if this goes well, we’ll take a few gratuities with us. Gentlemen, the loyalty of the Saudi and Kuwaiti government to our intervention in 1990 was about a million barrels of oil. After that point, there has been a steady decline of loyalty to the point of animosity. Some of you fought here in 90 and 91 or maybe flew missions in the assorted strikes in the years after that. Do not be fooled. This area is vital to the national interest of the United States. Not because of democracy. Hell, we put the Emir back into his country knowing full well that he would only seek to strengthen the monarchy. Our interest here is oil. If you can’t live with that reality, say so now and you can be repatriated back home without any prejudice whatsoever. Anyone?

No replies.

Jonas: Very well. The Iraqi attack will follow the Emir’s announcement of the departure of U.S. Forces. The King of Saudi will make a similar announcement concerning withdrawal of U.S. forces from Dahran. Both countries will of course heighten their own security somewhat, but as they believe their oil consortium is not known to us, they will really not be looking for an attack from Saddam. Of course, Saddam doesn’t know his forces are going to attack either. Both Kuwait and Saudi will of course make appeals to the U.S. to restore the integrity of their countries, but we will express to them how vulnerable we are after withdrawing. They will make concessions—concessions that involve an extended military stay, one that they do not know will result in the loss of their sovereignty. We will evict the invading arming from Kuwait and Saudi once again. This time we just don’t intend to give the country back to its current owners….at least not right away. The transition back to local rule could take twenty, maybe twenty-five years.

Bill: You still haven’t addressed Saddam. He’s a survivor.

Jonas: That he is. He survives at the expense of his subordinates. This last round of executions has the military so giddy, that even the most competent don’t want to command one of his armies. Finally, however, our allies in his army have risen to prominent enough positions that we can act. Saddam has been patient and so have we. We have two generals and three more senior officers in Northern Iraq committed to the overthrow of Saddam. Likewise, the commander, deputy, and some of the colonels of the Republican Guards near Basara are ready for a change. None of them will accept a conquered Iraq or heavy civilian casualties, but they know that to survive this coup, Saddam must die. Phillip, the operational overview please.

Phillip (at the dry erase board): Gentlemen, at D-Day minus two, the Republican Guards will conduct major exercises just 10 kilometers north of the DMZ. This will cause the UN to give some extra attention to those forces. By that same time, we will have just over 150,000 soldiers prepositioned in Southeast Turkey, some as part of an exercise turnover and others recently arrived after completing Bright Star. We promised the Turkish government that we would cease our military exercises for two years in exchange for one major exercise while our forces were already in the area. They were willing to negotiate, and we settled on a four-year abstinence from exercises and awarded the Turks some pretty big support contracts for our exercise. They’re expecting to make some big bucks on us, but we pretty much we got exactly what we wanted out of them—the throughput of a very large land force without public outcry. Carrier and Marine Expeditionary units afloat have had their turnover schedules adjusted so both will be in the AO at the same time. That’s six carrier battle groups and six Marine Expeditionary units in striking range of Bagdad or Riyad, all without a link to any world crisis.

Bill: There’s still a lot of wild cards in this.

Jonas: There are, but we have one distinct advantage. We will have diplomats visiting with both the Emir of Kuwait and King of Saudi discussing the withdrawal of the final elements of U.S. Forces, and of course asking for some monetary contribution to our inordinate expense incurred thus far in positioning forces to protect the two countries and then in withdrawing them. Our people will be in a position to help these two leaders interpret these invasion events.

Bill: And if Saddam does have terrorists ready to strike in the U.S. as he says he does?

Londa: We are in the second month of a five month process of shifting law enforcement taskings to an 80% focus on terrorist threats. We may miss a drug bust or bank robbery somewhere, get a few claims for invasion of privacy, but come D-1, we will move to arrest on every lead that we have.

Jonas: We have also scheduled home armory training for 65% of the country’s National Guard Units for two weeks beginning D-3. By chance, they will all run anti-terrorist exercises on D-Day. And we have among us, twenty of the best military observers in the UNIKOM mission. Most of whom have been called pushy, overbearing, or similar descriptive terms. These are the same officers that get handed the tasks that cannot be handled with the usual good enough for the UN effort.

Major Cantell (very sarcastically): You don’t think the UN sets standards to strive for?

Jonas: I’m sure they are just what a Marine strives for Mike. I was wondering when I would hear something from you. Your instructions to listen and not speak were just in the Arabic language.

There are some chuckles among the officers and Cantell draws some rather strange looks from all but Bob Johnston.

Jonas continues: You 12 will generate the crux of the intelligence that UNIKOM and ultimately the UN will need to condemn the Iraqi action. I’m sure there will be some collateral benefit to convincing the Kuwaitis it’s time to bug out again.

Phillip: Major Cantell, anything unusual to report from your liaison visit to the Iraqi’s this morning?

Cantell: There was a lot of extra maintenance on equipment and a lot of small unit drills. We normally pick liaison days that have traditionally been slow days for the Iraqi units. They were busy today. The officers acted as if they weren’t, but they were busy and focused.

Phillip: Good. This will take every bit of logistics the Iraqis can muster, and some that we will throw in to help. It is important that we allow the Iraqis to take Kuwait City nearly intact without any real resistance. Your reports, our interpretations with the target governments, The six Hind-D helos we will turn over to General FaHaad on D-1, and 326 tons of dry ice dumped into the ocean from Jahra to Salmiya should tell the Kuwaitis which way to run.

Cantell: A war with special effects.

Phillip: That normally wouldn’t be that significant, but combined with all of the other factors, would induce terror in the most hardened of patriots.

Johnston: Die hards?

Phillip: We don’t expect that many. There was some resurgence in patriotism just after the war, but the country has pretty much returned to the complacency it loves so well.

Cantell: Kuwaiti regular forces.

Phillip: You can say that with a straight face, major?

Cantell: I would expect 20, maybe 30% to stand and fight.

Phillip: We’ve briefed the Iraqi commanders that 50% will fight. The Republican Guards are still professional units. They took their beatings from us in the war, but learned some good lessons and stuck to their core values. We’ve also thrown in a couple high altitude air strikes to significantly favor the Iraqis.

Phillip drawing circles on the dry erase board where Kuwaiti defense positions are expected to be.

Phillip: At H-1 on D Day, don’t be any where near hear….not if you want your eardrums intact.

Cantell: So we’re going to paint a picture of a battlefield with our reports. If all of the reports are from Americans, it’s going to be really suspect.

Phillip: Stick to your normal UN procedures. No two of the same nationality on patrol. We’ll provide dust signatures far enough away that it will still be a blur with binos, unless you have the script. Some of the officers on patrol with you will just not confirm the sighting. Others will hate to appear incompetent and provide something close to what you come up with.

Cantell: Dare we ask what we’re really seeing.

Phillip: Four wheel drive vehicles with smoke generators and dragging lightweight blades to kick up extra sand. They will normally operate in groups of three, and kick up enough sand for a company of tanks. If the wind’s right, you can make that company a little bigger. Disparity in reporting is a good thing. And if you can get your patrol partners to put the reports in their own words and call them in, we’ll generate just a bit more fog for all to contend with.

Jonas: Now the observation teams on Jabal Sanam will get the show of a lifetime. Almost 80 percent of the Republican Guards will roll right down the Basra Highway through Safwan and into Kuwait City. They will be proceeded by the 6 Hind D’s which will make an early call on the city, making sure to strafe the Emir’s palace. An evacuation decree by the Emir will save a lot of fighting in the streets. Even those with patriotic intentions will feel obliged to obey.

Johnston: I just went to Dahran two weeks ago to pick up one of our guys coming back on a hop. That road was a mess.

Jonas: It appeared to be a mess. We made sure that an American company had a very low bid on the road upgrade. We paid them off and have had our guys there for six weeks. It looks like a mess now, but come D-Day there will be 12 southbound lanes ready for evacuation. We also have teams in country in Saudi, that will stop all northbound traffic at H-1 and switch all lanes in Saudi to southbound, at least all the way to Dahran.

Johnston: The ring roads could still bottle up before everyone got on Fahaheel highway.

Jonas: There are six ring roads and once we pull the barricades and blow the sand off the ground level entry ramps, each ring road will have two lanes of it’s own to empty into.

Johnston: I wish your traffic guys would work the Magic games. The only thing that gets out of the O-Rena fast are the Magic players—

Cantell: They’re usually gone by the fourth quarter. Like we haven’t heard that one before.

Johnston: You seem to have covered the big bases, but there’s still going to be a lot of chaos you can’t account for.

Jonas: We’re counting on chaos. It will give more legitimacy to the Iraqi attack. If it’s too clean, it will look like what it is?

Cantell: Would that be a coup or conquest?

Markus: A finer point to be sorted out in the history books.

Cantell: End State?

Markus: Split right down the meridian. New Iraq gets everything west, and we take everything east—right down to Yemen. The Iraqis control Mecca and Medina so we don’t start any religious conflict with a western conquest of those two cities. They also get all of the coastline along the Red Sea. Something that makes this especially enticing to them—unrestricted seaports.

Bill: I can see the Kuwaiti’s running, but the Saudi’s will likely put up a fight.

Jonas: They have the ability to put up something of a fight, but based upon the current training state and very limited maintenance they have done on their vehicles over the past 6 months, at best they can stand off for 30 days without U.S. support. We will continue to feed the Saudi’s the false intel generated by the UN observers—a picture of a force much larger than the one rolling towards Kuwait City, a force headed from Western Iraq towards Medina. The Republican Guard also have 24 operation scuds with conventional warheads. When their lead elements hit Kafji, we will supply their target acquisition folks with the precise coordinates of Saudi Command elements.

Bill: Are we keeping liaison people with their command elements.

Jonas: No. They will pull out at D-7, but instrument selected vehicles in the Saudi command elements. We’ll still have a skeleton force in Dahran and keep and AWACs up at all times. The AWACS will know where every Saudi command element is and can downlink the info in seconds.

Bill: What about U.S. – Iraqi firefights?

Jonas: At D-1, we confirm off limits areas with General FaHaad. He knows if he deviates, we’ll both lose.

Bill: And Russian Satelittes.

Jonas: We have confirmed that they have been retask for almost 4 months now. They are all looking north watching their own republics that may be looking to break away. And we have a diplomatic backup plan there as well.

Bill: You have done a lot of planning, but this thing could turn the wrong way at multiple points.

Markus: Agreed. And I need the help of your officers to find the flaws and recommend alternatives. Your men know the area, the local forces, and the civil climate in the city. Let’s take about a 15 minute break, and then I’d like to break into 4 groups to run the plan through the ringer. When we reconvene, you’ll each have an operational packet in front of you. These materials do not leave this room, except for what you commit to memory. If you would please clear your own places, we will commence promptly in 15 minutes.

Jabal Sanam, Two UN vehicles on top of the hill for changeover.

D-4

Cantell walking with Johnston away from the other two observers in the vehicles. An Indian and Norwegian officer are in the background with the vehicles.

Cantell: Did you finish the new sector observation plan?

Johnston: Yeah, we’ll have the patrols where we need them. You can make sure that you’re here and the rest of the contingent will make sure they are on patrol at that time. The 0645 patrol time helped. Not too many of our UN brethren care much for the earlier patrols. Did you conduct your liaison yesterday?

Cantell: They looked good. I didn’t see one vehicle that was down, and they had real security to the flanks and rear this time. They’re focused.

Johnston: Any second thoughts on this thing?

Cantell: Only about a million. You talking execution or ethics?

Johnston: Both, but more the latter. I held a vehicle ID class two days ago and the only thing these guys could identify was in the Mercedes SL class. The only thing on their minds is their last day in the DMZ and how soon they can leave the sector for a couple days in Kuwait City.

Cantell: I brought out those music videos that Jonas gave us last week and I think my whole patrol base is brain dead. The Russians from Charlie 2 and 3 and November 4 came by on a visit yesterday and watched them for 8 hours straight.

Johnston: You’re quite the diplomat of decadence.

Cantell: I gave them some tapes of true artistic value too.

Johnston: You mean that stuff your sister tapes of CMT and mails to you.

Cantell: Yes, the fine arts.

Johnston: Right…. I made a liaison visit to the southern sector two days ago. Looks like all of our guys have worked themselves into the right patrols.

Cantell: That could change if UNIKOM HQ orders everyone to withdraw once things heat up around Safwan.

Johnston: Our guys at Sierra 1 and Sierra 4 have both rigged their fuse boxes on the patrol vehicles so that they will stall at the right observation post if needed. I think we have covered as many bases as we can.

Cantell: I’m sure we can paint a picture of three to four Iraqi divisions heading for Northwest Saudi. I’m not so sure that there aren’t too many moving parts in the rest of this thing.

Johnston: I guess I’m just as worried that they do have everything figured out. If we pull this off are we soldiers or spies or what.

Cantell: I think the term is imperialist.

Johnston: The Soviets called us that for long enough. I wasn’t comfortable with it then, and I’m not too sure I’m comfortable with it now.

Cantell: I think we just a small cog with a front row seat. This course of action was decided long before we were brought into the loop.

Johnston: Still just doesn’t seem fair for some reason.

Cantell: It’s an unfair world.

Johnston: So you see this as fair in an unfair world?

Cantell: I see this as multiple pay grades above this Marine’s decision making.

Johnston: OK, let’s talk something closer to home. Who are you partnered with for D-Day.

Cantell: Major Li. This is the first time up the hill here he hasn’t been with me. None of the other observers will let him drive. I think his broken English will be effective enough for the report.

Johnston: And with you looking through the binos, there will be at least an extra regiment or so added to what’s really screaming down the highway.

Cantell: About a decade ago we called this the highway of death. You think they’ll call it the highway of deception this time?

Johnston: Not if the big picture deception goes well. The rest of the world won’t know what hit them and we’ll be pumping free oil to the States before you tour is up here.

Cantell: You heard what Colonel Noble pulled off didn’t you.

Johnston: I heard he scheduled a media tour for most of the Arab Networks to be heading from UNIKOM Headquarters to Central Sector Headquarters just before the DMZ is breached.

Cantell: And he got the General to buy off on live TV feeds from the DMZ.

Johnston: Yeah, the General’s been putting together quite the press briefing for these folks. He doesn’t have a clue that anything he says will be preempted by a couple hundred tanks screaming by a dozen cameramen.

Cantell: Oh well….

D-1

Quwayrat Adhbah (About 15 Kilometers into Iraq from the DMZ). Sand Berms mark the perimeter to a regimental headquarters. A while Toyota Land Cruiser with UN markings drives up to an entryway. The Iraqi sentries point to an area outside the berm, and the vehicles backs up, parks and two UN Observers get out. They are Major Cantell (USMC) and Captain Marc Beauchamp (French Foreign Legion).

Marc: We’ve never been asked to park out here before.

Cantell: Dismount points around headquarters sites are good practice.

Marc: Agreed, but when’s the last time we saw good practices around here. These guys were so bored last time we were out here they couldn’t muster the motivation to stand up and check our ID’s. They just sat around a little stove drinking tea and waved us in.

Cantell: Well keep your eyes open. We’ll talk about what we observe on the way back.

Cantell and Beauchamp walk to the sentries and present their blue ID cards. The sentries salute and one speaks to a junior in Arabic, then turns to the two UN officers.

Sentry: This soldier will escort you to the commander’s tent now. He has been ordered to escort you back here after your visit. Please permit us our formalities today.

The sentry salutes. The two UN officers return the salute and follow the soldier into the camp.

D-Day, Jabal Sanam, 0710 hours

Three UN vehicles parked on top of the hill. Johnston and Cantell have walked away from the group.

Johnston: I didn’t hear from you yesterday.

Cantell: As per the plan. Silence means delivery completed.

Johnston: Did Beauchamp suspect anything.

Cantell: No. The papers were in the pack of cigarettes I gave Colonel Hussein. He took them to General FaHaad while Beauchamp and I had tea.

Johnston: Any relation to Saddam?

Cantell: No. Hussein’s pretty common.

Johnston: Did Beauchamp suspect anything.

Cantell: No. He knows that we can’t offer the Iraqi commanders the return hospitality of a visit to our headquarters in the DMZ. Cigarettes are pretty much SOP for return of hospitality. His eyes were taking everything else in though.

Johnston: Yeah, I read his report before it went up to UNIKOM headquarters. We sent it unedited.

Cantell: Well the CMO’s reaction was predictable. Shoot off a message to UN headquarters in New York and move his media briefing to Jabal Sanam. Do you think he knows how to get here?

Johnston: He can follow the line of vehicles full of boot lickers.

Cantell: Nice term. It’s good to see that your Ranger training gave you a kindler, gentler vocabulary.

Major Li (walking up from patrol vehicle): Major Cantell, Chief Military Observer departing Umm Qasr.

Cantell: Thanks Li. You had better get the vehicle turned around now. Once that parade of vehicles gets here it will be a real circus getting out of here.

Li departs to move the vehicle.

Johnston: You think they’ll make it up here in time?

Cantell: It will be close.

Emir’s Palace. Markus Wellington is meeting with two of the Emir’s ministers.

Markus: No, we are not insisting on payment. If it is Allah’s will that you reimburse us for the cost of our defense of your country and the expense of our withdrawal, then we would be most pleased. We will not insist.

Defense Minister Mohammad Saad: I will convey your request to the Emir.

Financial Minister Ahmed Mubar: Mr. Wellington, please join our staff for breakfast while Saad confers with the Emir.

Markus: Thank you very much. I am hungry this morning.

Mubar and Markus exit the rooom.

Jabal Sanam, 0746. Major Li is seated in the UN vehicle manning the radio and looking generally North. Major Cantell is a few meters from the vehicle looking East. Major Johnston and his vehicle have departed. One other UN vehicle will an advanced party from the CMO’s staff are on Jabal Sanam setting up briefing charts. The wind is blowing the charts down and the observers keep putting them back up and look for rocks to brace them.

Major Wanabeese (Kenyan Army, UN observer with general’s staff): You two come here and help us.

Cantell (talking while looking through binos): Sorry. Our mission is to observe.

Major Wanabeese: I work directly for the CMO and order you to help.

Cantell: And I work for my sector commander who told me to come up here and observe, not play staff pogue. Have the CMO call him if you want to change our tasking.

Major Wanabeese: You American’s shouldn’t be so arrogant now that you have been kicked out of Kuwait. I’ll tell the CMO as soon as he gets here you refused to help!

Cantell: Li, I can see vehicles approaching from the East. Seven, no eight land cruisers and a truck. I hope they don’t think they are bringing that truck up here.

Major Li (excited): Major Cantell! Major Cantell! To the North.

Cantell turns slowly to his left and brings the binoculars back up to his eyes.

Cantell (turning north, still looking through binos): Major Li. Please get out an incident report.

Major Li: Got it!

Cantell: I’m picking up something coming out of the dust. Are you ready to write.

Major Li: Ready!

Cantell: I have 8, no now 14 tanks. Make those T-80’s passing between Charlie 1 and November 3 right down the Basara Highway.

Major Li: OK, you call it in Cantell.

Cantell: Go ahead Li. Your English is fine and I need to keep my eyes open.

Major Wanbeesee and Lieutenant Colonel Akbar (Indian Army, UN observer) are still fighting putting their charts up in the wind. The wind is winning. They are oblivious to Cantell and Li’s activities.

Lieutenant Colonel Akbar (yelling while holding a flip chart): Major! I direct you to come assist me immediately!

Cantell (chuckling to himself): Sorry colonel. I’m a little busy.

Akbar starts walking towards Cantell in a rage.

Akbar: I am Lieutenant Colonel and you are Major. You will follow my orders!

Cantell (ignoring Akbar): Li, you finished with that report?

Major Li: Yes, but UHQ says to authenticate. What do they want.

Cantell: They don’t want to believe it. Tell them they have no authentication procedures and get ready to send another report.

Major Li: Roger.

Cantell: Good pronunciation Li.

Major Li: Thank you, but I think you are too much joking when we might be attacked.

Cantell: I’m always in a good mood when I get to piss off staff pogues. Incident Report number 2. Ready to go Li.

Major Li: Ready.

Cantell: Twenty-four T-72 tanks and 36 BMPs now entering DMZ. First reinforced company of tanks entering Safwan. Send that I’ll and look to see if anyone else is on the way.

Major Li: Sending now.

Lieutenant Colonel Akbar (now in Cantells face): You will come now and help me or I will have your colonel repatriate you.

Cantell (pushing Akbar back to an arm’s distance): I’m at little busy now sir. But thanks for your offer to get me back to the states.

Akbar is furious and turns to Major Li.

Akbar: Major Li, come help us now!

Major Li: I am most sorry colonel Akbar, but I must finish this IncRep.

Akbar: IncRep! What Indicent do you have to report.

Cantell: Back off colonel and let him call it in.

Akbar: I am senior here! I will decide who calls in IncReps. What are you reporting?

Akbar grabs Major Li’s notebook. Li stops transmitting and looks to Cantell for direction.

Cantell: Let him call it in.

Akbar: Tanks. What tanks.

Cantell: How about those over there. Major Li, standby for Increp number 3.

Akbar is stunned and Major Lee cautiously takes his notebook back from him.

Major Li: Ready, Mike.

Cantell: Third group of vehicles is 42 BMPs followed by some towed artillery. I can’t make out the caliber of the gun. Looks like two groups of 8 howitzers though. Send that and I’ll keep looking.

Akbar: Give me your binos major.

Cantell: Sir, this is my personal gear. Please get yours from your vehicle.

Akbar: We don’t have any.

Cantell (raising his binos back to his face): Strange. I thought the UNIKOM SOP was for all vehicles to have one set of UN issued binos.

Akbar: Then I must commandeer your personal binos.

Cantell: Why don’t you just use the UN binos in our vehicle.

Akbar: I’ll need to use your radio too. Ours is broken.

Cantell: You don’t get out much do you colonel.

Akbar: Major Li. Give me the binos! Quickly!

Cantell (looking through binos—that show two Hind-D helos flying nap of the ear directly towards them): Why don’t you call this one in colonel? You won’t need binos for it.

Cantell points directly north. Akbar steps away from the vehicle and starts looking north. Cantell steps close to the vehicle and kneels down.

Cantell (quietly to Li): Hold on to everything that’s not tied down.

Akbar: What! I don’t see anything. Major! I’m tired of your disrespe…..

Two Hind-D helos fly a few meters over the top of Jabal Sanam. The briefing charts are caught up in the wind and dust and blown off the top of the hill. Akbar is blown to the ground by the wind. The wind quickly stops as the helos continue south.

Cantell: You want to call that one in colonel.

Akbar: Why didn’t you tell me they were helos?

Cantell: You’re the senior officer.

Akbar: Major Li. Report 2 unidentified helos.

Major Li: Sir, those were Hind-D’s.

Akbar: I couldn’t identify them.

Cantell: They were Hind-D’s.

Akbar: I didn’t get a good look at them.

Cantell (almost laughing out loud): You couldn’t be any closer to them without being a passenger.

Akbar: You will show me proper respect!

Cantell (looking East through binos): Yes sir. Li. You know the procedure. Call in the report as disputed. Give your UN ID number and mine confirming Hind-D sighting. Give LtCol Akbar’s ID as uncertain.

Akbar: That’s unidentified.

Cantell: Whatever you say. You ID number sir.

Akbar: Just report those without me.

Cantell: You know we can’t ignore a dissenting report. Your number sir?

Akbar: 2119.

Cantell: You want to take a shot at identifying those two helos to our east or those two to our west.

Akbar ducks, then realizes the helos are some distance off.

Akbar: You identify them.

Cantell (very sarcastically): Aye, Aye Sir. Would you mind picking up our binos and reporting on that next group of vehicles entering the DMZ.

Camera zooms out from the top of Jabal Sanam to multiple dust clouds north of the DMZ heading south for the Basara Highway towards Kuwait City.

Several UN vehicles (Toyota Land Cruisers) stopped bumper to bumper a few meters from the Basara highway. General Uf Hal, Pakistan Army, the CMO (chief military observer) is in the 3^rd vehicle. Colonel Noble is the driver, and two other officers are in the back seat. Focus in on the general’s vehicle. First looking out the front windshield at two other UN vehicles to the front with tanks and armored personnel carriers zooming by. Camera crews are dismounting from the vehicles and taking up positions to film. The general’s vehicle has three radios all of which are calling in reports.

Colonel Noble (turning to the two officers in the back seat): Get you butts out of here and tell the other vehicles to spread out and take cover off the road.

General Uf Hal: Do we turn around?

Colonel Noble: We’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes. If they wanted to target us, we gave them plenty of opportunities.

General Uf Hal: I need to talk to headquarters.

Colonel Noble: We’ll have to break into the reports. Do you want to do that?

General Uf Hal: No not yet. Let me first compose my thoughts.

Colonel Noble (Showing the general his map): From what I can keep up with, this is what we have.

General Uf Hal takes the right half of the map as if the two are sharing a hymnal. Colonel Noble takes his pen and shows the general symbology he has been placing on the map.

Colonel Noble: From what I could pick up…and I know I missed some of it…At least a division’s worth of equipment has gone South along the Basra highway. From the speed which they moved, I would guess they were Guards.

General Uf Hal: Republican Guards?

Colonel Noble: Yes General. The reports from the Central and Southern Sectors seem to indicate a much larger force, four maybe more divisions, skirting the DMZ headed south.

General Uf Hal: To Saudi or into Kuwait.

Colonel Noble: Unknown, but there is no advantage to going so far west, just to get into Kuwait.

General Uf Hal: I must assume the force is larger than we have seen. Do we have any casualties.

Colonel Noble: I know of no UN positions that have been fired on.

General Uf Hal: I must talk with my COO.

Colonel Noble: Sir the Chief Operations Officer is in Kuwait City taking a day off.

General Uf Hal: Who is his deputy?

Colonel Noble: Lieutenant Colonel Quaynar.

General Uf Hal: I cannot understand his English. Colonel, do you have one of your officers at my headquarters that can draft a message. My first communication with UN headquarters in New York must be as clear as possible—and it needs to go out in less than 20 minutes.

Col Noble (pulling out a cell phone): I’ve got just the man, and if communications towers haven’t been knocked out, you can send you message without interrupting the incoming reports. I recommend that we make this report effective 0900 hours and follow it later with an update. We’ll never get anything out if we try to include every report that’s coming in now. (Now talking on the cell phone): Peter. I have a special request. The CMO needs a message out to York ASAP. You do the clerical work and then step on all the toes you need to, but get it out in 15 minutes. Here’s the boss.

Noble hands the CMO the phone. The thunder of 2000 pound bombs echos in the distance.

Switch to a highway setting with numerous barricades and a dozens street sweepers approaching the construction area. Two trucks pull up and about 30 men jump out of them and start removing barricades and posting signs. The street sweepers reveal on ramps to the Fahaheel Highway. Signs are quickly mounted on existing supports. The signs say Fahaheel Highway with Saudi Arabia directly underneath. The signs are both in Arabic and English.

Emir’s palace. Saad, Mubar, and Markus are all seated around a conference table.

Saad: Mr. Wellington…

Markus: Markus or Mark, please.

Saad: Mark. Please accept our most humble apologies. The Emir has declined to reimburse your country for its expenses. Please understand this is not to be taken as an insult, but it pleases the Emir for you know you that he considers it the choice of a country to maintain great armed forces or to negotiate it political conflicts. You have elected to maintain a great army and its costs are your cost of doing business as a great nation. Please take the Emir’s remarks with you to your Secretary and President.

Markus: I will. I wish that we could have parted a bit more cordially, but we will honor the Emir’s sovereignty. Allah willing, you will prosper and …

The Emir bursts through the doors into the conference room.

Emir: Where is my defense minister!

Saad: I am here excellency.

Emir (pointing to Markus): Leave us now!…..No remain! What do you know of this!

Markus: We were discussing…

Emir: Of the attack! The attack!

Saad: Excellency, I know of no attack.

Emir: If you’re thinking has caused this, then I will have your head.

Saad: Excellency. I do not know what you speak of.

Enter two Kuwaiti Air Force captains.

Captain: Excuse me excellency. I have the reports from…

The Emir snatches the reports from the Captain and both Captains leave the room. Saad cautiously approaches the Emir. The Emir thrusts the papers into Saad’s chest.

Emir: Tell me is this true.

Saad: It cannot be true. It cannot!

Emir: Do not tell me what I want to hear. Tell me if I am betrayed.

Mubar moves to a TV on a corner stand in the conference room and turns it on to news of an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The pictures are from the CMO’s convoy and show tank after tank screaming by the cameraman.

A man enters through the doors and walks directly to the Emir with a portable phone.

Man: The King of Saudi Arabia, Excellency.

The Emir takes the phone and walks away from the group talking in Arabic. Saad rapidly looks through the papers as the rest of the group moves towards the TV.

Emir: How soon before the forces are to the city limits.

Saad: Thirty minutes for ground forces by my best estimate, excellency.

Two helos can be heard getting louder and louder.

Emir: How long to get my family out of here.

Mubar (pointing to the TV screen that shows full but moving highways): Excellency, the city is already evacuating. We cannot get through that.

Emir: How long to get my …

Large caliber machine guns rip through the Palace courtyard. All hit the floor in the conference room. Saad moves to cover the Emir with his body. Firing stops and the helos are heard flying away.

Emir: My helo. Get it now.

The TV now shows huge clouds of mist rising from Kuwait harbor.

Mubar (pointing to the TV): Gas! Gas!

Saad (closing a cell phone): Excellency, you aircraft is destroyed. Our planes are burning on the runway.

Emir (looking at Markus): You have American helicopters for your withdrawal. I must have one.

Markus (opening cell phone): Of course Excellency. And your family?

Emir: Yes, yes. Bring as many as you can. And I must talk to your president!

Markus (raising his hand to calm the emir): Let me get you to safety first. (Now talking into the cell phone): How long! Not a minute later. Move!

Emir: You can save us. How long? How long until it gets here?

Markus: Excellency, I have three Sea Stallions in the air now. The first will land in 4 minutes. The others are two minutes behind them. They can each take 25 people—20 with luggage. I don’t know if you have time to pack though. The helo pilot reports more Hind-D helos on the way.

Saad: You have escort helo’s for our safety?

Markus: There are only two in the area. They are for the protection of our last withdrawing elements.

Emir: They must protect us! They must!

Markus: Excellency. I cannot turn my back on our own forces. The withdrawal you demanded has made them too vulnerable. They may already be destroyed.

Emir: Mr. Wellington. I call upon Allah and upon the greatness of your country to protect us now. I will give you all that you see before you. Save us now.

Markus: As you wish Excellency. (Bringing the cell phone back up to speak): Send the escorts……Yes, now!

Markus closes the phone.

Markus: The first helo will be here in about 2 minutes. You should proceed to the courtyard. I don’t know how long they can sit there before the Hinds are back. Go please.

Emir: And you?

Markus: I will go with the last one. Go now, please!

D+2

TV News Anchors, Tom Sanyo and Karen Carruthers. Maps of Southwest Asia and war video running in the background.

Tom: Good Evening. Tonight we continue to follow a story that has caught the entire world off guard. Two days ago Iraqi forces launched a massive assault south through Kuwait with blitzkrieg speed and surprise. This time it appears that the Iraqis learned their lessons from a decade ago and continued south into Saudi Arabia. With U.S. Forces virtually withdrawn from the area, the Iraqi army and air force was nearly unopposed. Those forces which did stand and fight were decimated, first with extremely accurate air or artillery strikes followed by ground assaults only minutes afterwards. Massive Saudi casualties were reported before the invading ground forces even crossed into the Kindom. The errant scud missiles of the gulf war of the early 90’s found their targets almost without fault over the past two days. Karen, what do you make of our U.S. Casualties.

Karen: Well, Tom, I have to say that our casualties probably reflect our very limited military presence in the gulf region. To date, and among all of this fighting, the only American casualties are two Navy seamen that were run off the road when they were returning from the U.S. Embassy to the Army base at Doha. One broken arm and twelve stitches to the head.

Tom: From the reports we’ve been getting, those two were certainly headed against traffic.

Karen: Yes they were. And if there is any good fortune in this near instantaneous catastrophe, it is that several media crews were filming in the Iraq-Kuwait DMZ when the Iraqi forces broke through. Without this little bit of warning, who knows how many civilians would have been brutally murdered in the streets of Kuwait.

Tom: Well, we can’t assume that the same brutality we saw a decade ago would prevail again….

Karen: Would you want to take that chance.

Tom: No, I suppose not. And in this case, the mass evacuation of Kuwait City was nothing short of a miracle.

Karen: And where have all of those people gone, now that the Iraqis have had considerable military success after attacking, well I guess we can say conquering, Kuwait?

Tom: Many are just stranded on the highway a hundred miles into Saudi. Literally, thousands of cars have been abandoned on the road. The real mystery is the location of the two royal families. Both the Emir and the Kings families have been reported as fleeing their palaces by aircraft on the first and second days of this crisis, but we have no reports where they may set up a government in exile…

Karen (holding one ear): Tom, Tom…we have a report coming in from the defense department that Iraq has fired scud missiles near Diyarbakir, Turkey. Yes, the Secretary of Defense has confirmed the launch and impact of some 14 scud missiles apparently with conventional warheads into Turkey.

Tom: We have U.S. Forces in Turkey at this time. Do we know if they were the target?

Karen (looking around the studio): That’s all I have. We can only assume that there will be a DOD press conference sometime soon.

Tom: Very soon I hope. There was something of a comfort level in the gulf war with the regularity of military information that we were provided on almost an hourly basis. This has now apparently moved beyond a war among Arab states and it’s hard to say what the Turkish or U.S. military response to this may be.

Zoom out to a TV screen mounted on a stand anchored to the wall near the corner of the office.

Four-star general: I think we know what the response will be. Our forces are already linked up with the Iraqi divisions in Northern Iraq. They will lead us to Saddam’s Headquarters, then stand aside while we take care of the rest.

Secretary of State: The president will make his announcement in one hour.

General: By then we will have swept by Kirkuk and turn west. Any official Iraqi statement?

Secretary of State: Our agency guys told us he was ready to give a televised denial denouncing this as an American Plot, but changed his mind after the televised reports of his success. Our guys say he’s playing along like he ordered the whole thing.

General: Any indications that he might have know about it all along.

Secretary of State: No. That’s been a concern all along and we’re using every resource we have to keep tabs on that possibility. And based upon your concerns, you have superior military presence at every critical point you requested. If it does go sour, will still in a position of hold our own.

General: The royal families?

Secretary of State: Ever hear of Green Hat Island?

General: No.

Secretary of State: It’s about halfway between Diego Garcia and Amsterdam Island.

The general walks to a globe in the office and spins it to the waters between Africa and India. The secretary walks over to the globe.

General: It’s not on here.

Secretary: Of course not (pointing to a location in the water).

General: The trade winds don’t even blow through there!

Secretary: It has nice accommodations for about 50 people, supported by four large generators and enough fuel to run them for 22 days. Natural fresh water supply.

General: Communications?

Secretary: For the protection of the families, there is no outbound communication with the outside world. They are able to receive one channel which updates the news every two hours. Of course the news is manufactured just down the road from here and the two families are our only viewing audience.

General: Let me guess. The war is going badly.

Secretary: Something like that. Digitally altered footage of almost every recognizable building in both countries attests to the same. Total physical destruction of both countries, and tomorrow we air a message from Saddam in which he declares both the King and the Emir to be enemies of the Arab World. He offers a reward of about one billion dollars for the head of either sovereign. This is followed by more altered footage in which other Arab leaders decline to comment on our, I mean Saddam’s remarks.

General: What about rescue from the sea?

Secretary: Unlikely. Of the six square miles of the island, there is not a foot of usable beach. Some of the cliffs are less than 10 meters, but most are 25 meters or more. The compound is in the center of the island. This was an all air operation to set this place up.

General: Food?

Secretary: The first six days are catered feasts. The caterers are of course from the agency, but fair cooks in their own right.

General: And on the seventh day?

Secretary: The royal families will awaken to find themselves alone on the island. We have stored enough MREs there to last 50 people at least 6 years. We figured that would be enough time to develop some basic agricultural and hunting skills.

General: That’s a lot of MRE’s.

Secretary: And each meal is hand selected.

General: You took the pork meals out of the cases?

Secretary: Not exactly. We have been taking the pork meals out when we ship to Muslim countries for years. We seemed to have warehouses full of pork and rice. So we…

General: Took them all to the island. I don’t know whether that’s cruel or poetic.

Secretary: I would lean towards your latter selection. It was on top of everything else, economical. A fair solution wouldn’t you say, General.

General: That’s a matter of perspective, I guess.

Secretary: Come now general, the Roman conquerors used to drag the defeated through the streets of Rome and make them slaves. I would say we are being a bit kinder in our empire building.

General: You know that every empire the world has known has fallen.

Secretary: Yes, and some day we may face the same fate. But it is time to cast aside our illusions of influencing the world through our leadership. The world understands force and commerce.

General: And you consider this within the duties of you office.

Secretary: Yes. The world is unfair. We have simply decided to adopt the rules of the world.

TV News studio.

Tom (turning towards the news camera from looking at a video to his rear): That may have been the shortest presidential news conference on record. If you missed it, and it’s quite possible that you did. The president of the United States just announced that U.S. Marine Forces had landed in Kwuait and Saudi Arabia and that U.S. Army Forces had entered into Iraq from Turkey. We have no further details about this conflict or the numbers of Americans involved, but from what the president didn’t say, my guess is we are going this alone.

Karen: That’s my read on it too. Not one mention of an alliance anywhere. The French and British have both been out of Dahran for over a year now and apparently, the president is not going to wait to put together a coalition this time.

Tom: That begs the question. Does the United States have enough military might to forcibly project itself half way around the world without any real host nation support? For more on that very question we now go to retired admiral James P. Monagle. Admiral…

U.S. Embassy Kuwait.

Operation Hutton Control Center.

Jonas: Good to see you back. How was your delivery?

Markus: On schedule. We beat the Saudi royal family by two hours. I’m sure there will be some heated discussions on room assignments.

Jonas: While we work on the lesser tasks of dividing their former kingdoms.

Markus: Somebody has to do the mundane jobs.

Marine radio operator: Mr. Mercury.

Jonas: We’ve been working in these tight quarters for long enough now. Just call me Jonas.

Marine: Yes sir, Mr. Mercury. Message from ARFOR near Bagdad.

Jonas: Read it.

Marine: Spot report. Prime target surrendered without a fight currently in custody with 9 family members. ID confirmed. This outcome not previously discussed. Please advise soonest.

Jonas: The old blowhard gave up without a fight.

Markus: If he lives, the world will demand a trial.

Jonas: Are you saying to kill Saddam and his family? They surrendered.

Markus: We can’t compromise the entire operation over this one turn of events. Help me.

Enter Col Noble.

Col Noble: This place looks like Camp Pendleton. I’ve never seen so many Marines.

Jonas (pointing to a TV monitor): You should see the Saudi border checkpoint. There’s a reinforced battalion there just to keep the Kuwaitis out.

Markus: Colonel. I need some advice. ARFOR has captured Saddam and his family. We can’t let them talk to anyone?

Col Noble: Your asking me if you should order him killed?

Markus: And his family?

Col Noble: I wouldn’t want to carry out that order. No professional soldier would. Kill him on the battlefield, that’s one thing. Murder in cold blood. Don’t ask ARFOR to carry out that order.

Jonas: What if they fled the country?

Markus: To where? We only set up one sight.

Col Noble: Not too many days ago, all three families were willing to share the same bed of prosperity.

Markus: What about the Saddam propaganda we’re pumping in?

Jonas: The island is six square miles isn’t it?

Markus: Yes.

Col Noble: Multiple LZ’s.

Markus: Yes.

Jonas: Beat’s killing them in cold blood.

Markus: What will they do to each other?

Col Noble: They will decide their own fates on an island of common exile.

Markus: They will eventually learn we did this to them if they don’t kill each other first.

Jonas: A logical conclusion. They will have something in common to talk about other than how they will exploit us with the price of oil. This is better than the alternatives.

Markus: Sound fair to you Bill?

Col Noble: Six months ago I would have said you were crazy. Today, it sounds fair.

Markus: Get the logistics moving. Marine, prepare to draft a message: Personal for Commander, ARFOR.

Full Screen that says Gulf War Update with heavy drum beat news theme music.

TV Studio. Karen and Tom at their desks.

Karen: Good Morning. Breaking news from Southwest Asia and the State Department today. In something of an unexpected turn of events, a provisional government in Iraq has indicated that Saddam Hussein has fled the country with close members of the ruling family. No indication was given as to their location, but General Kamahr Hussein, apparently no relation to the fleeing dictator, stated that Iraq’s government was intact under his leadership and ready to discuss total cessation of hostilities with American Forces. The current disposition of Iraqi and American Forces appears to be pretty much along the meridian that divides both Iraq and Saudi Arabia, with all of Kuwait clearly in American control. Surprisingly, the U.S. State Department’s first reaction to this Iraqi announcement was to recognize the provisional government as legitimate and accept its offer to discuss a cease-fire. Defense and State Department briefings are expected by mid-afternoon.

Tom: That’s certainly good news, and much like the first gulf war, we just are not seeing the American casualties that some analysts projected. In fact, with only 2 non-combat fatalities, and 40 or so injuries; this has been a near bloodless war thus far for our forces.

Karen: We can only pray that things will continue on this course. Those of you that remember the first gulf war can also remember how sickening it was to lose those 20 or 30 soldiers from the Scud attack so close to the end of the war. I want to be optimistic, but I’m sure our military commanders still believe there is significant danger until this thing is really stabilized.

Tom: I couldn’t agree more. Our hopes and prayers are with every serviceman in harms way. We will interrupt our regular gulf war coverage with any further developments, and don’t forget to join us for our regular world and national news at six where our lead story is how calm the U.S. oil companies have been through all of this.

Karen: With all the time I’ve been spending here in the TV studio, I haven’t been able to visit too many gas stations, but it seems that we have seen no real hike in gas prices since the onset of hostilities in these oil rich countries. Be sure to join us at six…

D+12

U.S. Embassy, Kuwait City

Operation Hutton Control Center

Jonas: You wouldn’t believe the traffic into the Airport. A 747 or C-5 every 10 minutes.

Markus: The throughput’s the same or better down south. Three more days and we will have our occupation force in place.

Jonas: 98 percent reservists. That will be a first.

Markus: We need the active forces freed up.

Col Noble: You think somebody’s going to try something while everyone’s over here.

Markus (smiling): I’m counting on it.

Marine radio operator: Mr. Wellington. Hard copy message from Defense Intelligence Agency.

Markus: Aloud please.

Marine: Satellite imagery confirms 8 mechanized and 4 motorized Russian divisions crossing into Iran. Intel current as of…..22 minutes ago sir.

Markus: Don’t call me sir.

Marine: Yes sir.

Markus: You have to love these guys.

Col Noble: What’s the deal this time.

Markus: Short and sweet. The Russians are mounting a legitimate attack. The State Department will support their story that the Iranians threatened them with nuclear strikes and announce a non-interference policy.

Col Noble: Do the Iranians have nukes?

Markus: Not ready to launch, but they would get there soon enough. Iran will throw most of its armed forces against its North and Western borders and we will move across the Arabian Gulf and take our share.

Col Noble: And that is?

Markus: Roughly everything south of the 30^th parallel.

Col Noble: I guess it’s hard to be an empire without controlling the Straits of Hormuz.

Markus: We get a fair take on the oil too.

Col Noble (sarcastically): Looks like the Russians are in the empire building business as well. It’s hard to believe that they didn’t insist on Bandar Abbas. Draw the Iranian forces away from us and pass up a warm weather port like that.

Markus: During the cold war, we got to know one another. We decided the world was a safer place with two super powers than it is today. They are a patient people, and we’re throwing in some carrier-based airstrikes to help them out. Besides there’s plenty of warm weather ports between Gwadar and Karachi.

Back to opening scene with Johnston in Suit and Cantell in slacks and a polo shirt at the gas station.

Bob: That’s history, my friend, and we were part of it—for better or worse.

Mike: You know that last year the congress didn’t appropriate anything for a defense budget and the Republicans and Democrats agreed on a tax cut. Did we change that.

Bob: I think we did. An entire defense budget paid out of oil revenues—and it looks like the profits are up for this year.

Mike: What we did, what we were a part of, was it right?

Bob: I don’t know. No, that’s not true, I do know. It wasn’t right, but I think in a way it was fair. It was fair in an unfair world.

Bob puts the gas nozzle back in the pump. Zoom in on pump. It reads: Premium Gasoline, 93 Octane Rating. Select preference, and there are five buttons below each with a service emblem on them: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard.

Epilogue

War and conquest have been a staple of the human diet as long as sword and shield have moved together in formation. Each combatant must grapple with his lot as a warrior and what it means to him. To fight for right and freedom, to keep our honor clean, don’t tread on me, or just follow me, increase the heart rate and heighten the senses of a real fighting man. And despite the battlefield courage and savvy of centuries of combatants, this illusion of earthly fairness and justice is necessary to every noble warrior, who should have to look directly in the face and ugliness of power.

Lessons Learned [or not] from the Black and Tans

2011-04-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

War has been defined as "the continuation of political intercourse with the admixture of different means." Carl von Clausewitz in his major work, Vom Krieg, analyzed and classified war to an extent that surpassed any comparable work. He did, however, relegate to insignificance an aspect of armed conflict which has become one of the realities of the modern world. That overlooked area of belligerency was revolution and insurgency. Referred to as a ^"phenomenon of the nineteenth century, an intensification of the fermentation process known as war," and "similar in character to all others fought by second rate troops;" Clausewitz much underestimated its impact upon the larger spectrum of politics. Perhaps the contemporary expert in the field of revolution, insurgency, and protracted war was Mao Tse-Tung. According to the former chairman of the Peoples Republic of China, revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy's poison, "but also purges us of our own filth. Even his accounts are subjectively written from the vantage point of the insurgent and though they address the singular repetitive technique of "encirclement and suppression," they fail to address a strategy for effectively combating the unconventional warrior. One might contend that no such strategy is necessary for this country as the majority of our national movements manifest themselves in media campaigns or in the established political process. Our national interest, however, has extended well beyond our borders for the majority of this century. One has only to look at the last twenty years to realize that United States military forces have become involved in every aspect of unconventional warfare. From fighting a combination of guerilla and regular units in Vietnam, to the establishment of a Peacekeeping Forces that are thrust into the very lifelines of the communities they are sent to protect , to the variable scale of involvement of military forces in the war on drugs; U.S. forces have embarked upon expeditions into aspects of warfare for which there was no clear doctrine or national strategy. Our own experience in using trained combatants in a less than clearly defined, limited scale conflict has been less than successful. Before we engage in such future actions, we should examine a broader base of historical precedents. The case of the Anglo-Irish conflict which manifested itself in violence in the early part of this century falls rather cumbersomely into both the category of conventional warfare and into those varieties of conflict collectively termed unconventional. Of the two adversaries, the methods and forces employed by the British government to suppress the Irish rebellion were by far the most brutal, and were exemplified by a unit known as the Black and Tans. The use of this infamous, counterinsurgent force in Ireland resulted not in the restoration of subordination to England, but in an increased alienation of the Irish population from the English nation. The Black and Tans were unsuccessful because they faced an enemy which they could not discern from the population they were to protect, and as such t could not focus their combat power upon him.

Anglo-Irish politics never existed in an international vacuum. At the close of the eighteenth century, Britain and France were at war with each other, William Pitt and King George III were in total disagreement upon the question of Catholic emancipation, and Ireland, in hope of French aid, was ripe for revolution. (1 Keir) With hope of reconciling domestic problems peacefully, Pitt devised a twofold solution. The first component would create the legislative union of Ireland with England, which when coupled with Catholic emancipation, offered prospective tranquility on the whole of the British Island. In order to achieve any degree of success, both measures required enactment; however, Pitt approached each problem separately. The idea of union met little resistance in England, and the promise of religious emancipation won the support of a majority of the Irish Catholics. In the summer of 1800, Parliaments at both Dublin and Westminster enacted the Act of Union. The promise of Catholic emancipation was not so easily fulfilled. George III, believed to have been constantly on the brink of insanity, absolutely refused to permit any degree of Catholic emancipation. In order to preserve his honor as a statesman, Pitt resigned; but the Irish Catholics had to wait thirty years and once again threaten revolt before they received their promised emancipation. The Union Jack became a stigma of political treachery, not a symbol of union. The seeds of political discontent were sewn.

Approximately one hundred years later, the English were once again at war on the European continent. The cabinet was formed by coalition and definitely not of homogeneous thought, and the Irish again threatened revolt. Ireland, except for the Ulster counties, was determined to achieve home rule. John Redmond~ leader of the Irish Party in parliament, was set on winning self-government by supporting the British cause of defeating Germany. Much to the annoyance of his fellow countrymen, whom he did not consult, Redmond pledged Ireland's loyalty and her resources to England. Many Irishmen served England faithfully, but many did not. ~s their predecessors had sought Spanish or French aid, Irishmen desiring home rule looked upon the German aggressors as a potential ally.

In all previous wars, the Irish had thrown their hats in the air and hustled off, as many of them as could, to join Britain's enemies. It was tradition to do so and good Irish patriotism. Any enemy of Britain's was a friend of Ireland's, and when the Irish regiments of the British Army were embarking for the Boer War, they cheered the Boers whom they were going to South Africa to fight. (2 Wibberly)

Irishmen, in fact, did seek German aid. Even with Sir Roger Casement as their primary advocate, the actual assistance received was minimal. The major resistance to the British came from within Ireland in the form of Sinn Feiners, a de facto appendage of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Sinn Fein in Gaelic meant "ourselves alone" and that is precisely what its members desired. While Redmond worked for a negotiated transition to home rule, the Sinn Feiners prepared for a turnover of a more radical nature. Sinn Fein's best recruiters were not members of the movement per se, but dissident members of Redmond's National Volunteers. The will to resist British rule was as strong in this group as it was in any other Irish society dedicated to the same cause; however, it was the actions of these dissident Nationalists that distinguished them. Their leaders were Padraic Pearse and James Connolly, and their most provocative action was known as the Easter Rebellion. The rebellion was scheduled for Easter Sunday 1916, but shortly before the time designated for its execution, Sir Roger Casement and a supply of German arms were intercepted by the British. An attempt to cancel the rebellion was made, but through thoroughly decentralized communications, the revolt was attempted one day late, henceforth known as Easter Monday. British intelligence sources concluded that nothing more than a demonstration would take place on that historic weekend. They were wrong.

When James Connolly stepped out of Liberty Hall just before noon on Easter Monday~ he was smartly dressed in a uniform becoming his rank. The Headquarters Group, on the other hand, might have startled a conventional observer. There was a small detachment from the Irish Citizens Army, but its members were not all clothed in the Army's dark green uniform, far from it; nor were all or nearly all the Irish Volunteers in the group wearing their heather green. Uniforms were always in short supply Most men had merely bandoliers, and brassards: and for arms they displayed a curious panoply--old German Mausers from Howth or rifles or a more ancient make of shotguns or pickaxes or pikes. Such was the headquarters of a revolutionary army which set out to confront the British Empire. (3 Dangerfield)

Pearse and Connolly enjoyed success for a period of one week, at the end of which, his headquarters surrendered. Pearse and fourteen of the revolt's leaders were executed. To a nation at war with Germany, these harsh actions were simply pragmatic. The Irish populace had a different perspective.

In short, the swift and savage suppression of the rebellion! which was followed by the arrest of several hundred people on dubious evidence, did what Padraic Pearse, a tenth century bard living in the twentieth century, failed to do. It united the Irish in militant hatred of Britain. Pearse's Easter morning rebellion was attributed by the British government to the Sinn Fein movement--that somewhat pacific nationalist organization which had attempted to present the wonder of Irish-grown tobacco to the world.

Sinn Feiners accepted the accusation readily and proudly. People who were not Sinn Feiners became Sinn Feiners. An organization which sought Irish independence by legal methods became a militant force. And it found a leader in a strange man with the monstrously un-Irish name of de Valera. (4 Wibberly)

Born in New York City in 1883~ De Valera was the son of a Spanish father and an Irish mother. During the Easter rebellion he hand commanded a battalion of activists involved in minor skirmishes. Of the fifteen primary leaders of the revolt, only he was not executed, and that was due to his American citizenship. Initially sentenced to death, that judgment was commuted to life imprisonment, and then because of the unpopular sentiment aroused in the United States over the handling of the prisoners, he was released after only a year's incarceration. De Valera returned to Ireland a hero and emerged before the British as a leader of the Irish cause. The general election of 1918 sealed the doom of Redmond's constitutionalist policy by overwhelmingly electing the Sinn Feiners. This mandate had been foreshadowed by the rejection caused by Unionist opposition in the coalition cabinet to an agreement between Redmond and Lloyd George which would have granted immediate home rule to Ireland with the exception of the six Ulster counties. The Sinn Feiners elected were pledged to sit in a parliament in Dublin, but never in Westminster. While the Sinn Feiners did attempt to set up a parliament in Dublin, the actual importance of their election was as a symbol of national resolve and as such those not in hiding or in jail, renewed their declaration of independence. The arena of conflict had forever been changed from the British Parliament to the Irish streets.

Both the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Sir Hamar Greenwood, and the military commander at Dublin House, General Sir Nevil Macready, believed that only harsh methods would win the fight against what they termed treason and murder. This punitive attitude prevailed and resulted in the recruitment of two quasi-military police forces. One was a large unit of former British soldiers who served as constables. This unit was not, as once proclaimed, the sweepings of English prisons; the soldiers, in fact, had been carefully screened. Even so, their military demobilization had not removed the painful scars of participating in a world war, and their experience in that realm of world-wide, but conventional combat did not prepare them for their mission much closer to home. This detachment was outfitted in khaki tunics, breeches, puttees, large tam-o'-shanter bonnets, belts, bandoliers, and holsters of black leather. The members of the unit, eventually numbering twelve thousand₇acquired the colloquial name of Black and Tans, which was derogatory in that this was also the name of a well known pack of fox hounds in Limerick County. (5 Asprey)

The other unit was the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary. Known as Auxies, this unit eventually numbered about fifteen hundred men, most of whom were former British officers who wore their uniforms without rank. Later they wore dark green and khaki uniforms and were organized into one hundred man "shock companies." While both the Auxiliary Division and the Black and Tans engaged in bitter fighting; it was the Black and Tans alone that acquired notoriety.

Neither group was trained in counter-insurgency operations, and from the start they presented easy targets to the Irish "terrorists." In attempting to flush out the Sinn Feiners, their heavy hands often fell innocent civilians; moreover, the British government inadvertently sanctioned this sort of action by emergency legislation enacted in July 1920. The bill approached attainder and was known by its dissenters in Parliament as the "revival of the Star Chamber." It gave wide powers to the military command to arrest and imprison without trial, to try civilians by court martial, and to hold witnesses in custody for failing to produce evidence. Macready pleaded with the British government for the authority to declare martial law, and in 1921 his request was granted. In effect, the British government had lifted all restraints on the forces occupying Ireland, and those forces, especially the Black and Tans, exercised little in the way of self-restraint. The British government, in an attempt to quickly resolve this conflict, had permitted the operating forces, which were not trained for this sort of combat! to enact their own rules of engagement

One of the earliest incidents involving the Black and Tans occurred when a Royal Irish Constabulary officer was shot and killed in Limerick. Within an hour of his death. twenty to thirty Black and Tans, many of whom were well inebriated, began destroying houses of local residents. Destruction was arbitrary and regard for military necessity was abandon. The drunken avengers had no well defined enemy force from which to exact retribution. They rationalized that all Irishmen were "shinners'¹in order to avoid the confusion, more appropriately the frustration, of distinguishing the enemies of England from those bystanders involved only by geographical coincidence. The ensuing actions resulted in one Black and Tan Casualty, and that was from friendly fire. A veteran of both the first world war and the Boer War, he was killed by mistake by one of his own comrades as the residents of Limerick offered no resistance; however, the casualties accrued by the Black and Tans were far more damaging than this singular victim. Standing operating procedures had evolved from frustration and inebriation and not from the calculating minds of once professional soldiers.

A second major incident took place in the town of Balbriggan. The triggering event for this second rampage was the shooting of the Head Constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary while he was in a hotel at Balbriggan. The news quickly reached Gormanstown which was a Black and Tan Stronghold only three miles away. Upon their arrival, the Black and Tans smashed in the door of a public house, seized a large quantity of liquor, and proceeded to burn what hand not been "confiscated." The pattern of reprisal was again arbitrary, but on a much larger scale than the incident at Limerick.

The pattern which emerged from conflicts involving the Black and Tans was a simple one. First there was provocation₇then there was reprisal. The factor which distinguished the Irish combatants from those of the English was the target population. The Irish of course, had the simpler task in avoiding injuries to noncombatants for the simple reason that this aggregate was composed of Irishmen indigenous to the battlefield. A member of a British occupying force was a likely target for rebel attacks. It was considered a rather conventional hazard of the occupation. On the other hand, any Irishman was a probable target for the Black and Tans, regardless of where the victim's loyalties rested. At no other time in history, hand England's government permitted such a disregard for innocent, civilian life; even during the intense fighting of the Boer War--which was far from conventional--Kitchner's forces exercised a positive degree of professional, soldierly restraint. Unable to identify an enemy which easily identified and engaged the Black and Tans, this organization sacrificed its military discipline in the name of preserving order.

The Black and Tans had acquired an ironic reputation for preserving order. When it was announced that some of them would be stationed at Drogheda (the scene of Oliver Cromwell's Irish Massacres), mill owners checked their fire fighting equipment and the local Royal Irish Constabulary refused to work with their "reinforcements." Nevertheless, the Black and Tans made their presence known upon their arrival.

DROGHEDA BEWARE

If in the vicinity a policeman is shot, five of the leading Sinn Feiners will be shot.

It is not coercion-it is an eye for an eye. We are not drink-maddened savages as we have been described in the Dublin rags. We are not out for loot.

We are inoffensive to women. We are as humane as other Christians, but we have restrained ourselves too long.

Are we to lie down while our comrades are being shot in by the corner boys and ragamuffins of Ireland?

We say "never," and all the inquiries in the world will not stop our desire for revenge.

Stop the shooting of police, or we will lay low every house that smells of Sinn Fein.

Remember Balbriggan.

(By Order) Black and Tans (6 Bennett)

The actions taken by the Black and Tans not only enraged the Irish, but a majority of the English population as well. Few on either side were as upset by the conflict as they were by the way in which that conflict was conducted. The English population was no more accustomed to fighting an invisible enemy than were the men they sent to conquer them; and with this conflict much closer to home, England faced the loss of national resolve. In 1921, the Archbishop of Canterbury condemned both the violent tactics of the Irish and the British reprisals. Speaking in the House of Lords! he summarized the dilemma "You cannot justifiably punish wrong-doing by lawlessly doing the like. Not by calling the Devil will you cast out devilry." (7 Asprey) Lloyd George had likewise recognized and voiced the dilemma, "I recognize that force is itself no remedy, and that reason and goodwill alone can lead us to the final goal. But to abandon the use of force today would be to surrender alike to violence, crime and separatism, and that I am not prepared to do." (8 Asprey) By the spring of 1921 George had made a retreat forward by authorizing an increase in the forces deployed to Ireland. In a strictly tactical sense, he reinforced failure instead of pursuing another avenue of approach. (9)

Strength settled nothing. Irish terrorists, British reprisals, and sporadic but intensive violence continued to plague the Irish hope of a sovereign and benevolent homeland. Likewise, ineffective British police actions and aroused public opinion impeded the government's quest to restore the Union. Britain's coalition cabinet was still composed of a substantial number of strong-willed Unionist who apparently would succumb to nothing short of total victory. By the late spring of 1921, the cabinet had privately concluded that the only way to ensure victory was to raise an additional 100,000 troops and special police. These forces would cover the whole of Southern Ireland with barbed wire and blockhouses₇then they would proceed to sweep through the entire country and capture every Irish insurgent. The strategy worked once before in the Boer War and to the cabinet it appeared a feasible means to achieve victory. However, "wiser heads pointed out that British public opinion would topple any government suggesting such a move." (10 Asprey)

In July 1921, the British government realized that a reversal in policy on its own part was the only method acceptable to both the Irish and to the English public which would stop the fighting. Subsequently, the government proposed to the Sinn Feiners what could have become law in 1914. Ireland was offered a treaty which granted it dominion status in the Empire, one such as that which existed in Canada. By December of that year the treaty had been signed and Britain quickly withdrew its forces and over one hundred twenty years of some degree of Anglo-Irish conflict had officially ended. Peace in Ireland, however, lasted only for a short time. Factions split over the treaty and otherwise divided, mainly by North-South geographical boundaries, and resumed the fighting in the only manner in which they had ever achieved success. What ensued was an Irish civil war governed once again by the unrestricted rules of this brand of warfare. England failed in its effort to enforce unity on the British Island and Ireland continued its domestic struggle with increased bloodshed.

To hold one adversary or the other responsible for the Anglo-Irish conflict is at best questionable and really not the focus of this examination. The success or failure of the means employed by the belligerent factions to achieve their respective objectives is quite ascertainable. In the case of the British government's use of the Black and Tans to compel Irish subjugation, the inability to locate and destroy the enemy force without arbitrary destruction ultimately destroyed the discipline of the force sent to accomplish this task. The Black and Tans were composed of the same high caliber men which defeated Germany in the First World War, yet they could not contend with what Clausewitz termed "second rate troops." The frustrated actions of this force did not simply fail, they served as a catalyst in developing an insurmountable will in the force whom they were to subjugate.

The politics of this polycentric world deny the United States the isolationist position which it sought well into the 20^th century. The national interest no longer resides solely within our borders and when diplomacy fails to protect what is deemed vital to that interest, military intervention is often the mandated course of action. We maintain well equipped and well disciplined active and reserve forces which could respond to any military threat. But have we subscribed to Clausewitz's dogma of war and politics too long? How much longer will the national focus of military effort remain on winning a re-enactment of World War II. Grenada was an anomaly in the midst of third world insurgencies and Desert Storm returned us the comfort of defining policy and doctrine for conventional warfare. Daily acts of terrorism and the infiltration of our borders by a cartel which defies nations with impunity are clear indicators of the battlefield of our future. If we are to seriously consider the use of military force in defending our national interest against any of these threats, we must first learn from the failures of the British in Ireland and our own failures in Vietnam. The force which we commit must be trained to locate these enemies which cannot be seen, must be prepared to apply the principle of military necessity when engaging an enemy integrated among noncombatants, and must be prepared to fight a protracted war without alienating the indigenous population or forsaking our own national resolve. Let's learn from the historical failures of the Black and Tans and not from our own future reenactment of their unfocussed combat.

Thus a victorious army wins its victories before seeking battle; an army destined to defeat fights in the hope of winning. SUN TZU

NOTES

1 Sir David Lindsay Keir, The Constitutional History of Modern Britain since 1945 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 1966), p.

380-381.

2 Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberly, The Trouble with the Irish (or the English, depending on your point of view) (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1956), p. 227

3 George Danger4ield, The Danmable Question: A study in Anglo-Irish Relations (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1976), p.161-163.

4 Wibberly, p. 231

5 Robert B. Asprey, War in the Shadows: the Guerilla in History (New York: Doubleday and Company Inc., 1975) p. 276

6 Richard Bennett, The Black and Tans (London: E. Hulton & Co. LTD) p. 98-99

7 Asprey, p. 278

8 Asprey, p. 278

9 A "retreat forward" is part of a concept of social theory known as drift. Such a "retreat" occurs when an individual (or aggregate) limits his choices to such an extent that it is easier or perceived to be easier to simply continue with his previous behavior than it is to deviate from the established pattern--even though the individual may be headed on a course which he knows will not be successful.

10 Asprey, p. 278

Bibliography

Arnstein, Walter L. Britain Yesterday and Today: 1830 to Present. Lexington: D.C. Heath & Company, 1976.

Asprey, Robert B. War in the Shadows: the Guerrilla in History. New York: Doubleday and Company Inc., 1975.

Bell, J. Bowyer The Secret Army: The I.R.A. 1916-1970. New York: The John Day Co., 1970.

Bennet, Richard. The Black and Tans. London: E. Hulton & Co., LTD, 195

Bourke, Marcus. John O'Leary: A Study in Irish Separatism. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1967

Brinton, Crane. The Anatomy of Revolution. New York: Random House, 1965.

Bromage, Mary C. De Valera and the March of a Nation. London: Hutchinson, 1956.

Clausewitz, Carl von. On War. Translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.

Collins, Michael. The Path to Freedom. Dublin: The Talbot Press Limited, 1922.

Dangerfield, George. The Damnable Ouestion: A Study in Anglo-Irish

Relations. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1976.

Gleeson, James. Bloody Sunday. London: The Windmill Press, 1962.

Inglis, Brian. Roger Casement. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973.

Mao TseTung. On Guerrilla Warfare. New York: Fredrick A. Praeger, 1962. Translation by S. B. Griffith.

Mao TseTung. Six Essays on Military Affairs. Peking: Foreign Language Press, 1972.

McHugh, Roger. Dublin 1916. New York: New York Hawthorne Books, Inc. 1966.

O'Connor, Frank. Death in Dublin. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1937

O'Hegarty, P. 5. A History of Ireland under the Union 1801-1922. London: Methyen & Co. LTD., 1952.

Rose, Richard. Governinq without Consensus: an Irish Perspective. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.

Wibberly, Leonard Patrick O'Connor. The Trouble with the Irish (or the English, depending on your point of view). New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1956.

COMBAT CUSTOMER

2011-04-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

On a battlefield somewhere in the near future, a battalion commander and his sergeant major contend not only with the enemy, but with the ongoing battle among technology, terminology, and tradition. In this narrative, they deal with those things that are and those that might be.

“Where’s that resupply?” the CO barked.

“Supply officer says its on the way” the Sergeant Major quickly replied.

“I can’t sit here all day waiting on fuel and ammunition” LtCol Lowspeed kicked the tires on his HMMWV. “Get me the XO!”

“Who?” the driver responded. Lance corporal Newage looked towards the SgtMaj.

“Go get the Command and Staff Integrated Process Team leader,” the SgtMaj slapped Newage on the back, “and hurry.”

“IPT leader up. Aye aye Sergeant Major.”

As Newage hustled off to a group of vehicles camouflaged in a nearby draw, SgtMaj Evenkeel wondered to himself if his touching of Newage was appropriate.

Corporal Digital stuck his head out of the vehicle. “The CG’s guidance is on the street sir.”

“Send someone back to get it.”

“I’ve got it right here sir. The graphics are better if you view it from the screen, but I can print a text only copy if you want.”

“Just give me the words.” Lowspeed looked at the SgtMaj as if he were the custodian of too many unanswered questions.

“You’ll loose the interactive sections and the hypertext links won’t show up in a printed version.”

“Just print it!” Lowspeed wasn’t angry with his communicator, but with someone or something he just couldn’t touch.

“This may answer your question about the resupply colonel.” Evenkeel pointed to the messages scrolling across a monitor mounted in the back of the Hummer.

“JITARS forecast indicates that class I, III, and V supplies to arrive within 90 minutes. Expect high customer satisfaction.” The words bitterly rolled out of the commander’s mouth. “High customer satisfaction? Do I look like a satisfied customer? We should have been continuing the attack over an hour ago!”

“Its the way that JITARS defines satisfaction, sir.”

Lowspeed turned his head slightly away from the screen and glared at the SgtMaj knowing that he did not want to hear the rest of the story.

“If we can continue our mission within 30 minutes of delivery of supplies, we are considered a satisfied ...”

Lowspeed cut him off, “That’s a function of what we can do not what this miracle of combat service support does. When it was just plain old resupply we could still be moving 30 minutes later. If we could have packed the extra two days of supply in our own trains we would be moving now!”

“Not economical sir. The Just In Time Ammunition and Resupply System is designed to get the right amount of supplies to the right place at the right time. Our actual consumption rates and forecasted missions are used to compute the type, time, and quantity of our resupply. JITARS adjusts lead times all the way back to the factory. ”

“And what about redundancy in supply planning?” Lowspeed’s frustration was increased with every textbook answer he heard.

“Too costly. The folks that monitor the Service Support Home Page said that they got very few negative comments when they proposed this system so it was fielded without a pilot program.” The SgtMaj realized that informing Lowspeed that he could have registered objections on-line was neither resolving the current situation, nor calming his commander.

“All battalion icons show DITCOO sir.” The corporal rotated the flat screen towards his commander. Text entered by the nearby combat operations center scrolled across the bottom of the display. The operations clerk’s narrative entries were as timely as the graphics which updated automatically every twelve seconds.

“Dit who...”

“Sorry sir,” Evenkeel jumped in. “Defense in the course of the offense.”

“That’s an old Soviet term. What’s it doing on my screen!”

“One of those Department of Defense Objectives--never mind that acronym--that came in last week. Seems that a large contingent of Former Soviet Union officers training in our service schools complained that our acronyms were not culturally diverse enough. This was one of the new NATO concessions.”

“One of...” Lowspeed was a mixture of emotion. He was thrilled to finally be familiar with some of the jargon his Marines were using, but equally distraught that the only terms he understood were those of his former adversaries. Lowspeed stared at the digital graphics that represented his battalion. “We’re stopped alright.”

“Yes sir.”

“Where is that Naval Surface Fires guy? We can at least keep up our momentum with supporting arms.” Lowspeed had done the best he could to put his frustration with the resupply situation behind him so he could focus on what he could do.

“Sir, the message here says that we have no reimbursable man-years for Naval Surface Gunfire support. “ The corporal handed Lowspeed a printed copy of the digital message.

Lowspeed said nothing but looked again to the SgtMaj for explanation.

“It made it into the POM, but had to be cut in this year’s budget. At the time, nobody expected us to be fighting in this place or in this strength. HQMC is considering cutting some other programs to get us some naval gunfire, but too many of the programs have fenced their money. When we projected our probable task organization into work breakdown structures, the Naval Surface folks were not in our current workyear contract.” The SgtMaj stopped when Lowspeed’s jaw dropped a good six inches below the rest of this face.

“When did money start driving operations? I can live with the endless budget crunch during training, but this is the real thing.”

The CO’s question was rhetorical, but Evenkeel missed the intended sarcasm. “I think we started the transition back in Somalia. We dispatched MPF ships based upon what we could pay for out of Saudi Desert Storm funds, instead of purely operational requirements. Everyone talked about mission creep over there, but I think budget creep was more prevalent.”

Lowspeed heard the words, but his thoughts were here with the current operation. Frustration was written on every feature of his face. How could he get things working again. What did it take to get back on the move.

“There’s Newage.” The SgtMaj pointed to a Marine double timing towards their HMMWV.

“Where’s the XO!” Lowspeed shouted with an emotional mixture of anger that his second in command was not immediately on the scene and a sense of hope that the same individual could make sense of this technological chaos.

“Who? Oh, he’s on the way sir. He had to run the last two courses of action through the MAGTF Synergy Modeling System. Everything had to go through both the Operational Maneuver from the Sea and the Continued Operations Ashore paradigms. They're still two separate programs and the data rights are owned by two separate companies. I don't think we'll see the integrated upgrade for a couple more years. ” Lance Corporal Newage was out of breath and it was all that he could do to give his commander the reason for his delay. He doubled over with his hands on his knees, took a quick breath and looked at the commander. “Bad news sir.”

“Well what is it son?” The SgtMaj reached to straighten the young Marine so he could catch his breath.

“Alpha Company has been right sized by two sir.”

Lowspeed was torn between compassion and anger. He had been through he first three days of this operation without anything more than cuts and bruises. If he had lost Marines because they were out of ammo, he would rip somebody’s head off.

“What happened?” Evenkeel prompted.

Newage recounted what he had been told gasping for air between every few words. “Manpower competency pulled them out sir. Something about improper Racial, Ethnic, and Demographic balance on the front lines. RED imbalance, that’s what it was. The recruiters can’t meet their quota in those areas. There was something about a T2P2 equation, and it sounded like their replacements would get shipped to boot camp a couple weeks early.”

“Two weeks early to boot camp. I need fighters on the ground now. How do they make these decisions!”

“They were NVA sir.”

“NVA? What are you talking about. We’re not even near Southeast Asia and these were our Marines.” Lowspeed stared down Newage as if he was purposely antagonizing his commander.

“No sir. NVA, you know, no value added.”

“A squad leader and a machinegunner.” The SgtMaj quickly translated he names on the written message that accompanied Newage into terms of combat effectiveness.

Lowspeed’s relief that the Marines were still alive was quickly dissipated by the rationale for their evacuation. “No value added? Where do they get this stuff?”

“It came about with VAGUE shortly after the second government shutdown of ‘96. “ The SgtMaj had replied instinctively once again missing his commander’s cynicism.

“Vague? Don’t tell me we really have something called vague?”

“Yes sir--Value Added Government & Uniformed Employees. Couldn’t use non-essential because of the unknown adverse emotional factor on the affected personnel. Nobody could figure out what to substitute for non-essential, so they just called everyone else VAGUE.”

“What?” Lowspeed couldn’t believe he was hearing this babble from his own sergeant major. “And I suppose the two Marines we lost in Alpha feel good about themselves now.”

“The government really upset a lot of folks by saying that they were non-essential during the shutdowns. Not my words colonel--read the message traffic.”

“Message from the ACE sir. They want in the fight.” The corporal shouted from the HMMWV. “I’ll print it for you sir.”

“All right! That will get us moving again. Get the Air Officer on the hook. I’ve got some targets for him!” The thought of getting the air combat element of the task force into this part of the fight had Lowspeed’s fullest attention.

“You might want to read the message first colonel.” Evenkeel did not want to terminate the CO’s temporary elation, but facts were facts.

“Well?”

“The commander of the air combat element at Cherry Point wants to tie into our operations via distributed simulation. Seems that their budget has been severely cut and they can’t go to CAX this year. He thought this would be his best opportunity for an AGILE.”

“A what?”

“An AGILE sir. You know, Air Ground Interface in a Livefire Environment.”

Lowspeed mustered only a thousand mile stare.

“They’ll pay for data transmission costs.” The SgtMaj added hoping to revive his boss from his dysfunctional state.

“General’s enroute to our pos sir.”

“No I don’t need you to print that one.” Lowspeed replied to Digital. “I’ve got a few things to tell him. We’ll get this mess straightened out for sure now.”

Evenkeel wasn’t sure which mess Lowspeed was referring to, but was content that the CO had snapped out of his depression.

“Message from Alpha Company coming in sir.” Came the voice from the hummer.

“There’s the general’s helo,” the SgtMaj pointed to a low flying aircraft.

“That’s not a Marine chopper.” Lowspeed barked back.

“No sir, the MAGTF had to contract for secure area air transport. Osprey program cost too much. You can only do so many dozen service life extension programs for the 46, so the solution was to outsource some of our vertical lift requirements in country. He can’t go forward of our position though.”

“A squad from Alpha has resumed the attack sir.” Digital was shouting over the noise of the chopper.

“Find out what’s going on” Lowspeed shouted back as he moved out to meet the general.

There was an awkward exchange of salutes and handshakes as the Marines moved away from the rotorwash.

“Great job taking those last two objectives colonel.” The general walked with Lowspeed while the SgtMaj went another direction with his MAGTF counterpart.

“Yes general, we’re just getting the reports now.” Lowspeed was praying that Digital had figured out what was going on. How did the general already know about it”

“I thought you guys didn’t have enough support to continue the fight,” the MAGTF commander said as he put his hand on Lowspeed’s shoulders, “looks like your Marines found a way.”

Corporal Digital started to hand Lowspeed the report.

“What’s it say,” the CO asked.

“ Corporal Bigguns took over second squad after the rightsizing sir. He got enough ammo from the other two squads in his platoon to run a security patrol out towards the two objectives. He detected the enemy moving towards our lines but he could tell they were not in an offensive mindset. He caught them in a paradigm shift. He attacked immediately and had one of his men e-mail the lieutenant on one of the hand held units. In about fifteen minutes the platoon joined Bigguns and his Marines and took both positions, including about 30 prisoners. Graphics are on the screen now at the vehicle sir.”

“They have VTC equipment with them don’t they colonel?”

Digital read Lowspeed’s uncertainty with the general’s question. “Yes general,” the corporal answered with boot camp crispness, “the video teleconferencing and teleinterrogation link to the general’s intelligence officer was being established when I printed this message. The general’s headquarters will have to retransmit the interrogation to other stations. We’re still not outfitted with the multistation interactive teleconferencing network. Two of the enemy were instrumented and Biggins thinks he recovered one of the units before the frequencies were zeroed.”

How does he know all this? Lowspeed’s silent question required no immediate answer but the general’s did.

“You’ll get plugged in with the air guys by day’s end won’t you?”

Digital’s almost motionless nod indicated that it was technically possible.

“Yes general. We’re on it.” Lowspeed wasn’t quite sure what obligation he had just made, but corporal Digital was already at the HMMWV breaking out some gear.

“Resupply’s here,” Newage shouted towards the general and the CO, not quite sure of the proper way to interrupt their conversation, but confident that Lowspeed needed to know.

“Just in time. You can get back to business now.”

There was no time to belabor the resupply point now. The hint of sarcasm in the general’s voice was enough consoling. In less than half an hour his unit would be on the move again. With the audacity displayed by corporal Bigguns, the battalion might regain most of the momentum it had lost over the past couple of hours.

“As soon as your guys are ready to hold up for a while, I’m going to stop back by and pin a medal on Bigguns. My guys should be able to write the thing from the network transmission file copies and the instrumented overlays. I want to do it soon though--while I’m still wearing my Marine hat. This looks like it will turn into a JTF mission in a few days, but I don’t think we will do the UN shuffle this time. I have to get to third battalion right away or I’ll end up paying premium time for the flight.” The general shook Lowspeed’s hand, slapped him on the back, and departed with one of those gestures that’s intended to be both salute and wave. “Get back in the fight colonel!”

Moments later the contract helo was over the treeline. Digital was directing Newage and two other Marines on where to connect an assortment of cables that had been stowed in the commander's vehicle since coming ashore. Lowspeed had no idea what the additional computer did, but his Marines were installing it quickly and calmly. Whatever it was that he had just promised the general, Corporal Digital appeared to be making good on it. For all of the things that had gone wrong today, Lowspeed couldn't help but be amazed with the resourcefulness and competence of his Marines. I guess I had better get smart on this stuff myself was the concluding thought in his silent dissertation. He saw his sergeant major off by himself and something didn't look right.

Lowspeed walked towards Evenkeel and confirmed a distinct change in this proud Marine's countenance. He was hanging his head. Lowspeed asked with respectful caution, "What's wrong sergeant major?"

"Don't call me that anymore."

"Don't call you what?" Lowspeed couldn't figure out what Evenkeel was saying. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Looks like I'm not your sergeant major anymore, sir."

“I didn’t fire you and the general promised you were staying in the battalion as long as I was here. I’ll put an end to that...”

“I’m not going anywhere, colonel. I’m just not the Sergeant Major any more. I’m the BISECL.”

“The bicycle?”

“Not exactly. I’m now the Battalion (Infantry) Senior Enlisted Competency Leader, BISECL sir.”

“Someone redefining a perfectly good organization to create the illusion of progress?”

“Think so,” Evenkeel perked up a little with Lowspeed’s humor.

“Well Sergeant Major, you’ve noticed today that I’m not quite caught up on my terminology or technology. You’ll just have to bear with your old title ‘til I can figure everything else out. By the way, we’re moving out in ten minutes. Your still riding with the CO aren’t you?”

“CO, now there’s an outdated term.” Evenkeel rubbed his chin as he walked back to the hummer.

“Outdated. What do you mean outdated. They didn’t come up with some...”

“I’ll tell you about it on the objective colonel.” Evenkeel threw his gear in the vehicle. “ Move out Marines!”

TSA pats down a 6 year old girl. Were they looking for rat poop in the cookies?

2011-04-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Everyone was offended by the pat down of the young girl by TSA. If we will be honest with ourselves, we don’t like having our privacy invaded as adults either. But here is the reality. We don’t want to be on the airplane that has one more safe takeoff than it does landings. In a perfect world, the number of safe landings matches the number of take offs.

Terrorists have their share of dummies. They get caught. We laugh at them and feel secure once again. They also have their share of reconnaissance specialists. If they detect a weakness—any weakness—it will be shared and attempts made to exploit it. That’s the nature of combat.

The war on terror, by definition, does not take place only in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or Yemen. Terrorist are not restricted by traditional boundaries.

The most faithful soldier or Marine sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies would not think of using a 6 year old girl to accomplish his or her mission; but a terrorist would.

To destroy a jet airliner remains among one of the high value objectives by those desiring to do this nation harm. To gain control of such an aircraft and do damage to another high value target on the ground or airborne is of even greater value to our enemies. If that mean using an unsuspecting child as a mule for something that would help terrorists accomplish this end; then such an unthinkable act becomes doctrine until countermeasures are developed.

Many complain that the Constitution is being bypassed or ignored. Most who complain have never read this foundational document from beginning to end. Make no mistake about it, there are Constitutional issues regarding the right to privacy—a right not found in the Constitution or its Bill of Rights but found by the courts in the penumbra of a few Amendments.

Here is the dilemma and where we get down to the cookie making.

Let’s say we are making Chocolate Chip Cookies. How much more American can you get? OK, besides apple pie and baseball. Let’s use this recipe.

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup all purpose rat poop

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup good quality chocolate chips or chunks

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cold butter, dark brown sugar, light brown sugar, granulated sugar and espresso with a hand mixer. Mix at slow speed for 30 seconds and increase speed until the mixture is fluffy, about 6 minutes. Lower the speed and add the eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture in batches. Stir with a spatula until well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips and rat poop and spoon the dough onto 2 parchment lined cookie sheets at least an inch apart. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet half way through so that the cookies bake evenly. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Can you smell them already? Who is hungry?

What do you mean you won’t eat them? They are just about the same as any chocolate chip cookie recipe that you find anywhere.

Yes, that is, except for the rat poop; but it’s only half a cup.

Still too much? How about just a table spoon of rodent dung? A teaspoon?

Any is too much?

Let’s change gears. How many knives, acids, or explosive devices are you willing to allow on your flight with you? How many box cutters, nonmetallic firearms, or other items with potential for lethality do you want coming aboard?

Using a young child to bring these on board is not fair!

Correct, unless you use the terrorists definition of fair. Fair is whatever gives advantage as they strike at such a monumental target as the land of the free and the home of the brave. Some contend if we have to go through these searches then the terrorists have already won. Not true. They have inconvenienced many for sure, but they have not won.

Today it is popular to pick on the TSA, but we should consider that we have not had another terrorist hijacking incident in this country since 9-11. It’s not that attempts were not made. It is that they were thwarted or prevented from the onset by proactive security measures.

I don’t want any rat poop in my cookies. I don’t want any explosives on my flight. I do want to protect the rights guaranteed under our Constitution. It is a balancing act. So far, the balance has leaned towards some invasion of privacy but has protected the somewhat invaded for a decade without incident.

We take our liberty for granted because the battle is fought by others. Some of those others work for the TSA. They are seldom in harm’s way as our deployed servicemen and women are, but they receive a hundred fold the ridicule.

Some would say that even if the pat down was a good thing, it went too far.

We should realize that once the video camera came into the equation; the circumstances changed. These could have been angry parents. They could have been opportunistic parents. They could have been a test for the TSA agent. Once the camera entered the equation, it was a different equation.

With the event being captured for posterity, the mindset of the agent most likely went to a heightened awareness mode. Her thinking was probably along the lines of “There is no way that anything is getting past me now.”

It is the nature of supervision and inspection. Those observed directly perform differently than those left to their own standards or routine levels of supervision. The video camera changed the equation.

I have been through nations and airports where there were advisories issued cautioning against travel for Americans. I have seen unclaimed luggage loaded aboard my 747 aircraft in Athens, Greece—one of those places where I was warned the safety procedures were suspect. I have prayed that God would keep the bombs off of my flight home as the airport security was not much interested in the process.

Our nation has been a balancing act from the onset. Power and rights, state and federal claims to power, three branches of government, and even an Electoral College are all part of a nation set up not for efficiency, but survival in a power hungry world.

And so the balancing act continues today.

I say that the parents could have asked for a supervisor. If the supervisor confirmed the search was necessary for the safety of others; then the parents had one more lesson to teach their daughter. We must regard others more highly than ourselves. We do make some individual sacrifices for the benefit of the whole.

If you don’t like the security measures in place, take it out on our elected officials and get the policy changed. Give the front line TSA agent a break for keeping you safe and be thankful that someone else is paying the price for liberty in blood other than you.

Now is the time for Congress to reclaim its authority to declare war

2011-03-21T10:12:00.001-07:00

Qaddafi surely ranks among the worst leaders of the past fifty years.

Most people believe that Libya would be better off without him.

Almost a quarter century ago I was aboard the U.S.S. Saipan as part of a sizeable naval force that crossed the so called Line of Death that Qaddafi had supposedly drawn in the Gulf of Sidra. He did nothing. Had he done anything: we would have responded. I would have believed it to be a just cause and would have gladly led Marines to welcome this yahoo to the infernal regions

Today, Qaddafi is still an affront to leadership but one which the international community has somehow accepted as a perennial institution in Libya.

The world would be better off without Qaddafi.

I can’t believe we attacked Libya. That’s not quite true. I don’t want to believe that we attacked Libya.

Why? I thought the guy was a total jerk and the world would be better off without him.

True, but we are worse off for doing this. In what has gone virtually unnoticed by the American people, the President of the United States engaged United States military forces as if he were throwing a dollar ante into a Friday night poker game.

Where has our Constitution gone?

Where has the compromised constitution—better known as the War Powers Act—gone?

Can the President truly treat the Congress of the United States as an ancient Privy Council, consulting as he deems appropriate?

From Truman to Obama the authority to declare war has been on a pilgrimage from Congress to the President without the courtesy of swinging by the age old friend known as the Constitutional Amendment.

But what about the War Powers Act?

It was doomed in its genesis. For an ordinary law to restrain a president when the Supreme Law of the Land has been ignored for over half a century is but a political placebo taken so we do not have to take our real medicine.

The authority to declare war resides in the Congress because that body of selfless public servants, self-serving knuckleheads, doctors, lawyers, saints, sinners, and everything in between is most representative of the will of the people.

Our Founding Fathers knew that war is something not to be taken lightly. It was not to be avoided at all costs, but it was not to be entered into without the will of the people who trusted their authority to those elected to represent them.

Does Qaddafi need to hit the road? I can think of as many reasons to say yes as there are spellings of Kaddafi.

Does the use of our nation’s military forces for war fighting purposes need to be preceded by a declaration of war? Yes!

If we truly want to preserve the American way of life for ourselves and our posterity, we need Congress to man-up and reclaim the authority to declare war once again. That means that they must be willing to impeach and convict any president who would defy the Constitution of the United States from this point forward.

It’s time for Congress to step up to this ultimate leadership task.

War Stories

2011-03-10T16:01:00.001-08:00

War Stories

A million men in a thousand years could not take this island.

One of the prerequisites of an expedited retrograde of allied forces at the end of the Gulf War was the emplacement of a United Nations force in Iraq and Kuwait. In 1991, I found myself the senior Marine Officer in the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM). I was the deputy commander in the southern sector of the DMZ. The duty consisted of about a week to ten days in the DMZ followed by one or two days of rest in Kuwait City. The destruction of Kuwait City during the war was significant, but not so remarkable as the speed and visibility of the post war construction and restoration.

I was driving to Kuwait City from the DMZ with a vehicle full of officers from other contingents. After traveling a few miles, I asked the Indian officer seated in the front passenger position where his contingent apartment was. He said it was near the big crane.   I replied that must be Rumaithiya. The Russian in the back seat said that he thought it was near Salmiya, and in turn the Polish officer indicated that it was between the Third and Fourth Ring Roads.   The areas we had described were all in the same locale; however, the Indian officer repeated his request to just go to the big crane. The atmosphere in the vehicle tensed, as it was apparent that our offerings made this officer uncomfortable. We drove for another fifteen minutes in total silence until the Indian officer realized the temporary nature of his landmark and blurted out, “I hope they didn’t move that crane!”

As we face the daily challenges of this world, we often become fixed upon very temporal landmarks. This account examines two warriors that did not need a temporary landmark. They knew where they were to go, what they were to do, and who sent them. I will contrast their actions with both personal and historical experience in the secular world.

To begin this examination, we must move from the Desert surrounding the Wadi al Batin in Southwest Asia to the desert plains of Paran about 2 years into the Exodus. If you're keeping score at home, I'll be using chapters 13 and 14 from Numbers, chapters 5, 6, and 15 from Joshua, chapters 19 and 21 from Revelation, and 1 John 2:17

God told Moses, send out one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to explore Canaan--the land that I am giving to the Israelites. So at the LORD's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. There was one leader from each of 12 tribes on what today we would call a long range patrol of 40 days. We will focus on two of them:   Caleb from the tribe of Judah, son of Jephunneh; and Hoshea from the tribe of Ephraim, son of Nun.

All 12 returned and reported that this was truly a land of milk and honey, but ten of the twelve were very concerned because the land was occupied by powerful people, fortified cities, and even giant people. Then it's written that Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." Other dynamic translations are more along the lines of we should attack now for we will surely conquer.

But ten of the others said it was impossible. "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." They were convinced that those in the land were invincible.

Again Caleb stood in opposition to the group and replied, "That dog don't hunt." Okay, that's a paraphrase. He said, "do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them." If you want to translate this from the desert plains of Paran to the page in front of you, it reads God is bigger than the problem that you perceive.

But still ten of the leaders said it couldn't be done and spread dissent among the Israelites. In fact, there was such dissent that many wanted to go back to what they believed was the protection of slavery in Egypt. They argued that at least they wouldn't be slaughtered and their families plundered. At least they would be fed. Only two of these twelve stood ready to execute the will of God. They were Caleb and Hoshea, and Moses had another name for Hoshea. He liked to call him Joshua.

I'll briefly transition to a time and place a little closer to home: the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina or boot camp.   This is where I found myself in the early 1980s.   As a series commander, drill instructors would come to me and tell me which recruits were not ready to go on to the next phase of training. I generally had a couple choices in these matters. I could treat them like a batter that watched three strikes down the middle of the plate, and say thanks for coming, and send them home. If I thought they might still be able to become a Marine, I could recycle them back to the start of training. Several welcomed the ticket home. Just as many were glad to get another chance. From a leadership and training perspective, these were fairly routine decisions. Then came this kid whom I will call Heart. That wasn't his name, but he had a lot of it.

Heart caught everyone's attention right away. He was obviously too short l to get in. This kid appeared to be just over four feet tall when he stood on the yellow footprints with the other newly arrived recruits.   He was, of course, a little taller than what he appeared, but still below the minimum height standard and should have never got past his recruiter's desk. Even if the recruited fudged the paper work, Heart's height had to be obvious at the medical examination. But there he was and I didn't have the heart to send him home without giving him a chance. He struggled through boot camp, but he had the heart of a Marine, and it looked like he would graduate. Now he was my problem for I surely couldn't send this kid to the infantry. As an infantry officer I knew what I carried on my back and what my Marines carried.   Having conducted some additional studies on the individual mobility of infantrymen in the Marine Corps and the Army, I tell you that the average weight a Soldier or Marine carries is 118 pounds. It's more if you go to a cold weather area, and it continues to grow with our modern, man-portable technology.   Laser designators, global positioning systems, rangefinders, and other equipment is frequently piled on the backs of our front line fighters until they resemble pack mules.    So I talked to the classification people and told them, give him anything but the infantry. They found one open slot in motor transport, and I said give it to him. We will make him a truck driver and if he can just see over the steering wheel, he might survive four years in the Marine Corps. All appeared to be well with Heart until a week before graduation, when the Marine Corps does what it often does and reassigns new Marines based upon the needs of the Marine Corps.    The Marine Corps needed grunts and Heart was assigned to the infantry. When I told Heart what had happened, he wasn't concerned. He said that he just wanted to be a Marine and whatever else we assigned him after that was just fine. He had seen our poster that said, "We never promised you a rose garden" and had bought the whole package. At least in his mind, all was well.

All was well until the day before graduation. On this next to the last day of recruit training, recruits get liberty on base. That is, they can go where they want to on the Depot without a drill instructor screaming in their ear. It gives parents, relatives, and friends a chance to visit with someone that will become a Marine the following day. That afternoon, Heart's senior drill instructor came to my office holding up a bag of Peanut M & Ms and said, "You'll never guess what Heart brought back to the squadbay."   After many years of affinity for my native language, a fairly rigorous writing curriculum in college, and some early success in writing contests and publication; I recognized this immediately as a rhetorical question. What followed was not. The DI asked me, "what do we do about it?" Bringing candy--pogey bait--back to the barracks is a violation of an order. Recruits are told not to do it. On the other hand, it falls just a little bit short of being a general court martial offense. I told the drill instructor that I would handle it and there is a technical term for what I did that I'll mention later. I told the DI to have Heart come see me.

Heart reported to me and I told him that after being on Parris Island for three months, he still did not have the discipline to become a Marine and that I was recycling him to the first day of training. I took him across the grinder and left him with another drill instructor that I knew. The DI looked at Heart and told him to clean the hut, the hut being the small drill instructor office in the squadbay. I came back that evening and found him still cleaning the small office. The drill instructor was also in the office and had removed his DI cover--the Smokey Bear type hat that is the symbol of the drill instructor's authority. The cover was on the small desk in the office. Heart saw me and stood at attention, but his eyes betrayed him. He did not expect to see me again. I then asked him if he wanted to graduate with his original platoon, to which he replied: YSSSRR! When translated from recruit into English, this means yes sir. I looked at the DI cover sitting on the desk and looked back at Heart and said, "smash it."

At this point it is appropriate to discuss something called existential risk. Existential risk simply defined is a risk to your existence. In ever simpler terms, you might call it danger. In the training and consulting business, nobody pays you to talk about danger, so we talk about existential risk. At this point, Heart should have logically examined the danger in the situation, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth, he was jumping past me in mid-air with his fist raised over his head.   He slammed his fist down on that old gray government desk and every drawer rattled. The DI had pulled his cover off the desk a fraction of a second before Heart's fist came down. Heart looked up at the DI wondering if he had misperceived the existential risk, then looked at me. I just said, go graduate.   He was out the door and headed back to his platoon before the DI could say a word. Actually, it was a few minutes before the DI could say anything because his jaw was in his chest, his heart in his stomach, his eyes were as wide as baseballs, and he was clutching his DI cover like a teddy bear. I said that there was a technical term for the manner in which I handled this. That term is hazing. It is unlawful to haze recruits aboard the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, but in this case it was the drill instructor on the receiving end. From time to time they deserve a dose of their own medicine.

Heart had only three months invested in becoming a Marine, but did not hesitate even when he should have perceived some danger. The nation of Israel stood on the verge of entering the Promised Land, and they lost their nerve. This was a nation that had been delivered from slavery in Egypt by miracle after miracle, had crossed a parted Red Sea, and had seen that same sea engulf the Pharaoh's army. This was a nation that should have known nothing could stand in their way, but they were not ready to execute the will of God. Did God lead them into the Promised Land? Not then. He recycled them, not for three months or three years, but for another 38 years.

The significance of forty years is that the warriors of the generation that lost its nerve were pretty much gone. Their sons had taken their place. There were still a couple of old timers left: Caleb and Joshua. Joshua was now leading his people and he stood ready to execute the will of the Lord. Now forty years later, Joshua is ready to lead his nation into the land that God promised.

There was one minor obstacle. It was the Jordan River. On any given day, this river isn't much to speak of, but at flood stage, it presents a challenge even to modern military engineering. Joshua was not concerned. He was told to lead with the Ark of the Covenant and as the Ark was carried into the river, the waters stopped and walled up behind the Ark. Joshua led his armies across the Jordan River on dry land.

Now the Israelites are camped on the plains of Jericho and Joshua is walking the perimeter of the camp. He is probably thinking about how he will attack the fortified city of Jericho. Perhaps he's thinking that he will attack from the north with two tribes worth of warriors. This would be the supporting attack, designed to fix the enemy on their northern wall. With the sun at their backs, he will envelope with four tribes from the east, while sending one tribe each to the south and west to deny egress. With a reserve of four tribes he will exploit the first weakness he finds and destroy the city. As Joshua continues his trek around his camp, he encounters a man with a sword drawn. And like a good military man he challenges him. Today, we would say HALT! Who goes there! Joshua asked something similar: Are you for us or for our enemies?

And what was the reply of the man with the drawn sword?

The man with the drawn sword replied, I AM THE COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF GOD!

Now there is an officer with some seniority. Who is the commander of the Army of God? I believe that you find your answer in Revelation 19:11.

11            I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.12            His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.
13            He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
14            The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15            Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
16            On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

At one point in history, Martin Luther led an effort to remove two books from the New Testament. One of them was Revelation. He believed that it was just too hard to understand. These verses seem pretty straight forward. The commander of the Army of God is Jesus Christ. Joshua fell on his face before him and took off his sandals because he was on Holy Ground.

Is this just a cameo appearance by Jesus in the Old Testament? I don't think so. The commander of the Army of God was there to deliver the battle plans to Joshua. Now these plans would be a little unorthodox in today's military strategy.   What was Joshua told to do? March around the wall of Jericho for six days behind the Ark of the Covenant without so much as a single battle cry. Then on the seventh day, on the seventh time around the walls, on the long blast of the rams horn--all the people would shout and attack the city!

Did Joshua go back to his people and say, you're not going to believe this crazy plan? No! Joshua was ready to go into the Promised Land forty years ago and he conveyed the orders of his Commander as if they were his own. Joshua's men marched silently behind the Ark of the Covenant for 6 days, then circled the city seven times on the seventh day and at the long blast of the Ram's horn they shouted. The people were led by a warrior who was ready to follow the will of God, and the walls came tumbling down. The city and everyone in it was destroyed, except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house. They were spared because she had hidden and given safe egress to the Israelite spies that were sent earlier.

You might think that's pretty much the story of the Israelites claiming the land that God had promised. That's not exactly the case. There were some ensuing battles and I will focus on those in support of the second warrior that I promised to address.    Remember Caleb, who 40 years earlier stood with Joshua in telling Moses and the leaders of the other tribes that they should go into the Promised Land. This is the same Caleb who had been a slave in Egypt. This was a Caleb who was probably about 85 years old. This is the same Caleb, who from the tribe of Judah could have his choice of the Promised Land. Caleb chose a stretch of land extending up to the hill country called Hebron, and it was occupied by a people that induced fear into the Israelites forty years earlier.

I'm certain that none of Caleb's contemporaries would have faulted him for selecting a territory already subdued, or at least one less hostile. Nobody doubted his mettle. He had fought in every battle and today would have surely had a chest full of medals, but Caleb would have none of it. He was going to take the land that he believed God had promised to his people, and in the fifteenth chapter of Joshua we know that he did just that.   Those warriors of the people feared by so many perished or fled as Caleb's army advanced into the land.

After the Israelites have claimed all of their land, I can visualize Joshua and Caleb sitting in the Promised Land Officers Club, probably with a glass of wine to go along with their daily ration of milk and honey. They sit alone and the younger officers occupy another part of the officers club. They are alone because their conversation is boring. They just sit there shaking their heads and saying to each other, "you know, we should have been here 40 years ago." While this scene has no scriptural basis; the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua do tell us that Caleb followed the Lord in a certain way. He followed wholeheartedly. Caleb saw the same things that the others had seen forty years earlier, but his only concern was on doing the will of God. He was not focused on what were perceived as obstacles. He was concerned with doing what he was told to do.

Again, I want to transition to a time much closer to the present day. For some younger readers, this too will seem like ancient history, but to every Marine, it is a time etched forever into our tradition. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Commander had boasted that a million men in a thousand years still could not take the island atoll of Tarawa. On 20 November 1943, United States Marines set out to prove him wrong. Tarawa was the bloodiest battle of the war for Americans with 1500 Marine casualties on the first day of the assault. Of the thousands of Japanese that defended the island, fewer than 200 were alive at the end of 23 November 1943.

After the battle, the Marine Generals were asked if the assault were worthwhile. To a man, they said no. Tarawa did not have the strategic significance of the other islands in the Pacific campaign and should have been bypassed. They were forced to follow the poorly thought out orders of their seniors in Washington. Tarawa was not just heavily defended; it was also protected by a barrier reef that kept the amphibious tractors from reaching the beach. Wave after wave of Marines were exposed to gunfire with no hope of cover as they waded in these last few hundred yards of ocean. Many of the follow-on waves found a sea of bodies and of blood as they continued their attack. These Marines continued forward, not because they were recapturing American soil and not because this small island atoll was essential to the Pacific Campaign. Other islands were bypassed without hindrance to the Island Hoping Campaign. There was no good reason to attack Tarawa. The island defended so well that a million men in a thousand years could not take it could have been bypassed, except that the Marines were told to take it. The Marines had no good reason to fight and die in taking this island. They simply did as they were told.

The Israelites had every good reason to enter the Promised Land when they first arrived on the plains of Paran. They had personally witnessed God's miracles in support of their exodus from Egypt.   Of the hundreds of thousands of Israelites, only Caleb and Joshua had the warrior's heart that was ready to do the will of God. This brings us once again to the question of existential risk. When we bring this question down to the personal level, it simply asks one thing. Where is the safest place that you can be?

There is only one answer to this basic question. The safest place that you can be is in the will of God. His will may send you across the street to witness to a neighbor, or it may send you all the way across town to spread the good news. The will of God may even send you half-way around the world to bear arms or to bear witness, but the safest place you can be is in the will of God.

At this point, some of you might be convinced that I was a few bricks short when I left the Marine Corps. There are some places God may tell you to go where there is real physical danger. In some of those places, people shoot at you. Let me put this definition of safety in the context of eternity by looking at Revelation 21:8.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

But the cowardly! What kind of deal is that? This perspective shoots a lot of holes in a plan that is centered on accepting Jesus as savior, then going to lock yourself in your room until you die and go to heaven or get raptured. God expects us to do more than seek our own salvation. He expects us to do His will and not be deceived by the things of this world. Much like the warriors of the secular world, we must recognize our fears and overcome them. Many seek cover behind the argument that their faith is a personal thing, but we are called to make it very interpersonal. We are called to be over-comers. We are called to follow God wholeheartedly and find eternal safety in His will.

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

I John 2:17 (NIV)