I'm getting a bit weary of a few retired general officers invited by cable news programs to offer their views, suggest or say outright that the strain being placed on the Army as a result of having to fight two distinctively different wars is not that bad. A few like MG (Ret) Bob Scales and GEN (Ret) Barry McCaffrey are more realisitc in their views, and correctly represent what's really going at ground level. What others like them suggest, however, is much farther from reality, and seems to be based on what they hear from within the halls of the Pentagon, rather than what they might see themselves were they to get down with the troops a bit more. Generals McCaffrey and Scales, to their credit, have been down at ground level, and are not at all hesitant to tell it like it is.
When I hear some say that a 15-month combat tour, followed by 12-24 months of "dwell time" in between rotations ought to have minimal impact on morale, I recall what I've actually seen at locations such as Forts Bragg and Leonard Wood, where in the case of the former many have more that three combat rotations since 2003, and at the latter where instructors and Drill Sergeants are being asked to do more with less. For example, where is the "dwell" in dwell time when people are working harder with longer hours away from families when they are at home, compared to what they were doing while deployed? Consider those who have indeed returned "home", but are required to spend significant time away from families, engaged in peacetime missions such as fire fighting, disaster recovery, and training elsewhere with equipment that's not available locally because all unit equipment was left behind in the combat zone.
There are not enough troops in the force today to execute all the missions required at home and overseas (especially within the Army National Guard). Regardless, some retired general officers and editorial writers keep suggesting we don't have a major problem today in the Army. Saying so does not make it so.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Being Held Accountable
The situation involving the so-called cover up pertaining to the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan hopefully will result in some senior people being held accountable. It ought to start with the former Secretary of Defense (Rumsfeld) who himself often glossed over "details" that were sometimes not in concert with his expectations.
The media is reporting today that there may be administrative actions taken against some involved retired general officers...one a Lieutenant General. Reports indicate that the Secretary of the Army may recommend he be reduced in retired rank to Major General. Assuming the LTG knew early on that Tillman's death was caused by friendly fire, and not by enemy action as was being reported by the Defense Department at the time, my view is that he ought to lose all three of his stars and be retired at some lessor rank. People need to be held accountable for their actions (or inactions), and unfortunately that's not been happening enough, both in the Department of Defense and within the Bush administration.
The media is reporting today that there may be administrative actions taken against some involved retired general officers...one a Lieutenant General. Reports indicate that the Secretary of the Army may recommend he be reduced in retired rank to Major General. Assuming the LTG knew early on that Tillman's death was caused by friendly fire, and not by enemy action as was being reported by the Defense Department at the time, my view is that he ought to lose all three of his stars and be retired at some lessor rank. People need to be held accountable for their actions (or inactions), and unfortunately that's not been happening enough, both in the Department of Defense and within the Bush administration.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Airline Industry Broken
I've been reading for several years about all the woes associated with traveling by air, but it was not until just recently that I experienced personally just how bad it has become.
My wife and I were traveling on United Airlines originally from Greensboro, NC, through Chicago to Anchorage, Alaska. We made our reservations months in advance, only to learn the day prior to our departure that United had changed our initerary from Greensboro, to Washinton DC (Dulles) to Denver, then to Anchorage. Nothing we could do at that point, so we accepted it as it was.
The short leg from Greensboro to Dulles was uneventful and on time. But it was at Dulles that things went downhill fast. First, after a three-hour wait to depart to Denver, we learned the incoming flight had been delayed by an hour. After we finally boarded, we were told that the co-pilot was "not legal" and had too many flying hours. Fortunately, there was a "legal" co-pilot on board as a passenger (in uniform returning home), so she switched with the non-legal pilot. This took almost an hour. More delay was associated with getting all the baggage loaded. Then we were told that the plane had a flat tire, but that it was being changed with us on board. Another delay. Finally as we began to slowly move away from the loading dock, the pilot said they were having touble "determining the total weight of the aircraft." More delay. At this point it was turning into some sort of comedy of errors...but it really wasn't that funny to us since we had a plane to connect to in Denver to get us to Anchorage as scheduled. Finally...to a rousing cheer from many on board, we left the ground.
Long story short, as a result of the incompetence of United Airlines, we missed our flight to Anchoprage and had to spend the night (at United's expense) in Denver...not a fun experience for those like us who had expected to be sitting in cool Alaska, but were instead sitting in 98 degree heat in the mile high city...a place I never want to see again.
The next day after waiting over six hours in Denver International for our evening flight, we finally departed for Anchorage; and fortunately for us, our luggage was on board as well. So it was with great relief when we finally arrived in Alaska. Since we'd included two days extra in our plans before we had to board a cruise ship, spending the night in Denver did not impact that aspect of our travel, but it did cause us to miss seeing some things around Anchorage that we wanted to see. Still, this was our third time there, so we adapted as best we could with only a day left to "explore".
The two week ship's expedition we were on to Alaska, the Bering Sea and Russia was wonderful, but in the back of our minds was the thought we had to eventually suffer the "friendly skies" of United Airlines again on our journey back to Greensboro. As you might expect, there were delays coming home too, and our baggage was not waiting for us when we arrived; although it was delivered to our home late in the day we got home.
Was our experience much different from millions of others worldwide these days? Not at all, if the opinions of the 100 people from the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand we sailed with are considered. Virtually all of them suffered some sort of airline problem themselves. This indicates to me that the worldwide airline industry is on the verge of total collapse.
Right now my feelings are if I can't drive to a destination, then I ain't going. Maybe in a few years my feelings will change. I hope so because there are many places in the world we want to visit.
My wife and I were traveling on United Airlines originally from Greensboro, NC, through Chicago to Anchorage, Alaska. We made our reservations months in advance, only to learn the day prior to our departure that United had changed our initerary from Greensboro, to Washinton DC (Dulles) to Denver, then to Anchorage. Nothing we could do at that point, so we accepted it as it was.
The short leg from Greensboro to Dulles was uneventful and on time. But it was at Dulles that things went downhill fast. First, after a three-hour wait to depart to Denver, we learned the incoming flight had been delayed by an hour. After we finally boarded, we were told that the co-pilot was "not legal" and had too many flying hours. Fortunately, there was a "legal" co-pilot on board as a passenger (in uniform returning home), so she switched with the non-legal pilot. This took almost an hour. More delay was associated with getting all the baggage loaded. Then we were told that the plane had a flat tire, but that it was being changed with us on board. Another delay. Finally as we began to slowly move away from the loading dock, the pilot said they were having touble "determining the total weight of the aircraft." More delay. At this point it was turning into some sort of comedy of errors...but it really wasn't that funny to us since we had a plane to connect to in Denver to get us to Anchorage as scheduled. Finally...to a rousing cheer from many on board, we left the ground.
Long story short, as a result of the incompetence of United Airlines, we missed our flight to Anchoprage and had to spend the night (at United's expense) in Denver...not a fun experience for those like us who had expected to be sitting in cool Alaska, but were instead sitting in 98 degree heat in the mile high city...a place I never want to see again.
The next day after waiting over six hours in Denver International for our evening flight, we finally departed for Anchorage; and fortunately for us, our luggage was on board as well. So it was with great relief when we finally arrived in Alaska. Since we'd included two days extra in our plans before we had to board a cruise ship, spending the night in Denver did not impact that aspect of our travel, but it did cause us to miss seeing some things around Anchorage that we wanted to see. Still, this was our third time there, so we adapted as best we could with only a day left to "explore".
The two week ship's expedition we were on to Alaska, the Bering Sea and Russia was wonderful, but in the back of our minds was the thought we had to eventually suffer the "friendly skies" of United Airlines again on our journey back to Greensboro. As you might expect, there were delays coming home too, and our baggage was not waiting for us when we arrived; although it was delivered to our home late in the day we got home.
Was our experience much different from millions of others worldwide these days? Not at all, if the opinions of the 100 people from the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand we sailed with are considered. Virtually all of them suffered some sort of airline problem themselves. This indicates to me that the worldwide airline industry is on the verge of total collapse.
Right now my feelings are if I can't drive to a destination, then I ain't going. Maybe in a few years my feelings will change. I hope so because there are many places in the world we want to visit.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Global Warming
I spent the past two weeks in the Bering Sea sailing from Kodiak Island to Unalaska-Dutch Harbor to the Pribilof Islands to St. Lawrence Island to Provideniya, Russia and lastly past the Arctic Circle, and saw first hand the effects of global warming, both on the Yupik natives who live in small, very remote villages throughout the area, and on the unbeliveable diverse amount and species of wildlife. All you have to do is listen to village elders explain how shoreline erosion caused by a lack of protective sea ice is affecting their village, and how much more difficult it is to find the same numbers of sea mammals to hunt as they used to see. True, maybe it's a temporary blip on the radar of time, but maybe not. The natives think not.
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