Over the last twelve years of war, our Army has demonstrated exceptional competence, courage, and resiliency in adapting to the demands of war and accomplishing the mission.  Today, however, the Army is failing in its efforts to combat sexual assault and sexual harassment.  It is time we take on the fight against sexual assault and sexual harassment as our primary mission.  It is up to every one of us, civilian and Soldier, general officer to private, to solve this problem within our ranks.

The Army is committed to the safety and security of every Soldier, civilian, and family member.  Our Army is based on a bedrock of trust - the trust between Soldiers and leaders that we will take care of each other.  Recent incidents of sexual assault and sexual harassment demonstrate that we have violated that trust.  In fact, these acts violate everything our Army stands for.  They are contrary to our Army Values and they must not be tolerated.

It is up to every individual to contribute to a culture in which our Soldiers, civilians, and family members can reach their full potential.  It is imperative that we protect potential victims from ever experiencing a sexual crime.  We must provide compassionate care and protect survivors after a crime has been committed.  Our people must be confident that complaints will be handled quickly and decisively, and that our system will deliver justice and protection throughout the reporting, investigation and adjudication process.

Commanders, non-commissioned officers, and law enforcement must ensure that every allegation of sexual assault and sexual harassment is thoroughly and professionally investigated and that appropriate action is taken.  Leaders at every level are responsible for establishing a command climate and culture of mutual respect, trust, and safety.  Leaders must develop systems to "see" their units, and understand the extent to which their leadership promotes a positive command climate for all Soldiers.  I urge everyone to start a conversation within your unit or organization, among leaders, peers, and subordinates and with family and friends to better understand one another's experiences and to develop better solutions to this problem.

Our profession is built on the bedrock of trust; sexual assault and sexual harassment betray that trust.  They have a corrosive effect on our unit readiness, team cohesion, good order and discipline.  We are entrusted with ensuring the health and welfare of America's sons and daughters.  There are no bystanders in this effort.  Our Soldiers, their families, and the American people are counting on us to lead the way in solving this problem within our ranks.

Raymond T. Odierno
General, 38th Chief of Staff
U.S. Army

Reader support is crucial to this mission. Weekly or monthly recurring ‘subscription’ based support is the best, though all are greatly appreciated.  Recurring and one-time donations are available through PayPal or Authorize.net.

To send a check or money order:

Michael Yon
P O Box 5553
Winter Haven, FL 33880-5553

I will continue to do my part in telling the stories that are not being told.  Readers must also do their part by keeping the cash flowing.  Cash is essential .

Thank you!
Michael

Petitioning President Obama

President Obama: Close Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay

Written By: Morris Davis

I served 25 years in the US Air Force, I was the Chief Prosecutor for the Terrorism Trials at Guantanamo Bay for more than two years, and now I need your help.

I personally charged Osama Bin Laden’s driver Salim Hamdan, Australian anathema David Hicks, and Canadian teen Omar Khadr.  All three were convicted … and then they were released from Guantanamo.  More than 160 men who have never been charged with any offense, much less convicted of a war crime, remain at Guantanamo with no end in sight.  There is something fundamentally wrong with a system where not being charged with a war crime keeps you locked away indefinitely and a war crime conviction is your ticket home.

As of April 29, 2013 – 100 of the 166 men who remain in Guantanamo are engaged in a hunger strike in protest of their indefinite detention.  Twenty-one of them are being force-fed and five are hospitalized.  Some of the men have been in prison for more than eleven years without charge or trial.  The United States has cleared a majority of the detainees for transfer out of Guantanamo, yet they remain in custody year after year because of their citizenship and ongoing political gamesmanship in the U.S.

That is why I am calling on Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel to use his authority to effect cleared transfers from Guantanamo and on President Obama to appoint an individual within the Administration to lead the effort to close Guantanamo. Obama announced on April 30 that he plans to do his part to close Guantanamo, but he has made this promise before.  Now is the time to hold him to his promise and urge him to take the steps necessary to dismantle Guantanamo Bay Prison.

If any other country were treating prisoners the way we are treating those in Guantanamo we would roundly and rightly criticize that country.  We can never retake the legal and moral high ground when we claim the right to do unto others that which we would vehemently condemn if done to one of us.

It is probably no surprise that human rights and activist groups like the Center For Constitutional Rights, Witness Against Torture and Amnesty International have been outspoken critics of Guantanamo.  It may surprise you that a former military prosecutor and many other retired senior military officers and members of the intelligence community agree with them.

The Patriotic thing, the American thing, the Human thing to do here is to Close Guantanamo.  Please join us in the fight by signing this petition.

To:
President Obama

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC, 20500

Re: Concern about hunger strike and stalled efforts to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to urge you to take immediate steps to end indefinite detention without charge and begin closing the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. If ever there was a moment to act upon the promise you made more than four years ago to close Guantánamo and begin to restore America’s reputation as the champion of the rule of law, it is now.

For several weeks, major news outlets, attorneys for the detainees, and even military officials have reported that there is a hunger strike occurring among a significant number of the men detained at Guantánamo. As a detention facility official told reporters during their visit the week of April 15, “there will be more than one death.” The current situation is the predictable result of continuing to hold detainees indefinitely without charge for more than eleven years. Therefore, I urge you to begin working to transfer the remaining detained men to their home countries or other countries for resettlement, or to charge them in a court that comports with standards we would accept if it was Americans on trial. I also urge you to appoint an individual within your administration to lead the transfer effort.

Specifically, I ask that you:

1) Direct Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel to use his authority to issue the certifications or national security waivers required by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2013) to effect transfers from Guantánamo.

2) Appoint an individual within your Administration to lead the effort to close Guantánamo.

3) Announce a concrete and specific plan to close the facility. As a first step and a clear signal that this is the beginning of a new chapter in Guantánamo’s legacy, you should immediately release Shaker Aamer and Djamel Ameziane.

I urge you to order the relevant authorities to take swift measures to humanely and lawfully address the immediate causes of the hunger strike in a manner consistent with international standards of medical ethics before irreparable harm occurs to the detainees. Moreover, I urge you to take steps to address the root of the problem by fulfilling your promise to close Guantánamo without further delay. While I stand ready to support the Administration’s efforts to close Guantánamo Bay in a manner consistent with its international legal obligations, this problem demands the leadership that only you as the President of the United States can provide. I urge you to act now.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

From: Center on National Security at Forham Law

Crisis at Guantanamo:

Will the Prison Ever Close?

Join Carol Rosenberg, David H. Remes, Dr. Gerald E. Thomson, and Karen Greenberg for a discussion about current conditions at Guantanamo and the feasibility of closing down the prison.

Guantanamo Bay prison is in crisis.  At least 100 inmates, many of whom have been cleared for release, are participating in a hunger strike to protest years of detention without charges.  Prison officials have resorted to force-feeding prisoners, a practice that many medical and human rights experts claim is inhumane and illegal.  Some prisoners may be close to death.  At a press conference on Tuesday, President Obama criticized the prison and vowed to renew efforts to close it.

Friday, May 10th, 12pm - 1:30pm (lunch served)

Fordham University at Lincoln Center

12th Floor Lounge, Lowenstein Building

113 West 60th Street, NYC

Carol Rosenberg is the military-affairs reporter at The Miami Herald.  In 2011 she received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for her nearly decade of reporting on the Guantanamo Bay prison.

David H. Remes is an American lawyer who has served as a pro bono attorney for several of the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison.  He was involved in litigation surrounding the Detainees Treatment Act of 2005, which denied prisoners the ability to submit habeas corpus petitions.

Dr. Gerald E. Thomson is the Lambert and Sonneborn Professor of Medicine Emeritus at Columbia University, and the former president of the American College of Physicians.  He also served on The Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment, an independent, bipartisan panel which has recently released an exhaustive report on the capture, detention, and interrogation of terror suspects during the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations.  The report is available at:   http://detaineetaskforce.org/report/

Karen J. Greenberg (moderator) is the Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School.  She is the author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days (2009), which was selected as one of the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post and Slate.com

To RSVP, email nationalsecurity@law.fordham.edu, or visit our website:

http://www.CenterOnNationalSecurity.org/RSVP

Follow Us On Twitter: @CNSFordhamLaw

Veterans and their families need to watch this.

Thank you to the numerous vets who sent the link.

I just sent a thanks to David Martin at 60 Minutes.

Mr. Arnold Fisher deserves a standing ovation and eternal gratitude for his efforts and inspiration.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50146231n

Many people contacted me in regard to a documentary movie about an American Green Beret, missing some 44 years.  They wanted to know if this story is true.

Unfortunately, this is another fraud, shamelessly pulling on the heartstrings of the many good people who want it to be true.

Conspiracy theorists of course will blame this on the government.  Our government deserves blame for many things, but frankly, it strains even my imagination that any recent US administration would attempt to cover up this case.  President Clinton would have had every reason to run it up the flag pole, as would have Bush and now Obama.

In any case, it would be easier to put a man on the moon than to cover up this case. It is too simple to check.  The fraudsters are dependent on a naive audience.

As evidence, this official report from the Department of Defense Prisoners of War/Missing Personnel Office is dated 19 Feb 2009.  Fingerprints taken by the FBI show him not to be Robertson.

Written by: General Barry McCaffrey, USA (Ret.)

Below is both the Statememt for the Record and the PDF presentation from General Barry McCaffrey, USA (Ret.)

Click the icon to the left to Download and view the above document.

Click the icon to the left to Download and view the above document.

Written by: Free Burma Rangers

Map showing area of this report. BA – Burma Army activity.

Below is a list of Burma Army activities in Kachin State and Northern Shan State in April, including attacks, troop movements and resupply operations.

11 April 2013

•Burma Army Infantry Battalion (IB) 50 with 1 bulldozer finished repairing the road from Byeng Wai to Mazup Pa in Mansi Township, which is in the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) 3rd Brigade, 27th Battalion’s area of operation.
•In territory of KIA 1st Battalion, under 3rd Brigade area in Mansi Township, 20 Burma Army troops were sent to Manje to reinforce IB 240 which arrived earlier. A combined force from IB 69 and IB 240 arrived near Pying Kadu where fighting previously took place between the Kachin Independence Organization’s (KIO) civilian militia forces, called MKM and MHH, and the Burma Army. The fighting occurred on April 10, 2013, between 9:25 and 10:30 AM.
•In the operating area of KIA 17th Battalion under 4th Brigade in Kuthkai Township, Northern Shan State, approximately 80 Burma Army troops arrived at Nam Yi, about 100 troops arrived at Pang Palu, about 50 troops arrived at Sin Jai beyond Bang Hkam, and about 40 troops arrived at Man Kang. All troops are from IB 145 and Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 323.
•In territory controlled by KIA 36th and 38th Battalions under 4th Brigade area in Muse Township, Northern Shan State, a combined force of about 100 troops from IB 242 and LIB 568 continued military operations near Ba Hpang.
•In territory under the control of KIA 5th Battalion, 2nd Brigade in Shwegu Township, Kachin State, Burma Army IB 93 and LIB 309 troops are building security camps along Chyaut Gyi, Shwe Nying Chan and Si Sat. They were previously providing security at Pang Hkawn Yang to transport rations and ammunition.
•In territory under the control of KIA 6th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Hpakant Township, Kachin State, about 50 Burma Army troops from LIB 347 made attacks around Pang Hka.
•In territory under the control of KIA Battalion 11, Brigade 2 in Myitkyina Township, IB 347 troops made attacks at Tang Hpre and nearby places.
•IB 74 troops carried out military operations along the railroad – Sa Maw and Tawng Ni in Mogoung Township, Kachin State.

April 2013

•At 09:45 AM, in territory controlled by KIA 1st Battalion under 3rd Brigade in Mansi Township, Kachin State, a combined force of 50 troops from IB 69 and IB 240 carried out military operations to Htamawk Post, where KIA civilian militias MKM and MHH, stationed between Manje and Nazaret, attacked the Burma Army from Pyin Kadu bushes, leaving 2 Burma Army troops wounded. The Burma Army troops then fired nine 60mm mortar rounds and four 120mm mortar rounds.
•In the area of KIA 9th Battalion under 4th Brigade, about 60 troops from Burma Army LIB 507 arrived at Hu Hpyek – Ja Chyai Pa from Ta Mu Nye in Kuthkai Township, Northern Shan State.
•At 3:00 PM, almost 400 Burma Army troops from LID 33 with 28 military trucks were traveling back to Myitkyina from Gang Dau Yang in KIA 5th Brigade area, Waimaw Township, Kachin State.
•At 11:00 AM, in territory controlled by KIA 27th Battalion under 3rd Brigade in Mansi Township, Kachin State, about 60 troops from LIB 502 arrived at Man Wing – Kawng Hkang from Kai Htik.
•In territory controlled by KIA 38th Battalion under 4th Brigade in Muse Township, Northern Shan State, more than 40 Burma Army troops arrived at Ba Hpang and more than 50 arrived at Man Hpye.

7 April 2013

•At 10:25 AM, 15 Burma Army trucks carrying troops from LID 99 and 5 trucks carrying around 35 horses were going back to Bhamo in Kachin State.
•In KIA Battalion 2 area under 4th Brigade, an estimated 200 troops from IB 136 arrived at Mung Ji and troops from another battalion with 8 military trucks arrived at Ta Mu Nya from Kuthkai.
•60 troops from IB 145 arrived at Nam Hkai and about 50 troops from IB 323 arrived at Man Lung.
•At 8:30 PM, in territory of KIA Battalion 34 under 4th Brigade, an estimated 100 Burma Army troops with 6 trucks arrived at Man Dung in Northern Shan State.
•About 150 troops from LID 33 arrived at Gang Dau Yang.
•A road crew unit from LID 33 with one bulldozer arrived at Na Hpaw in the area of KIA Brigade 5, in Wai Maw Township, Kachin State.
•In territory of KIA Brigade 2, Battalion 5, Burma Army IB 141 and LIB 309 arrived at Pang Hkaw Yang. IB 39 led by Lt. Col. Myu Min Nawng and Major Kyi Hkai divided and did military operations at Wa Wang Bum and Myu La Villages in Shwegu Township, Kachin State.
•At 3:30 PM, in territory of KIA Brigade 5, Battalion 3, troops from Burma Army LID 88 with 15 military trucks went from Man Dawng to Wai Maw where IB 58 is based in Kachin State.

6 April 2013

•At 14:00 PM, 20 Burma Army trucks carried rations and ammunition from Bhamo to Daw Hpun Yang.

3 April 2013

•Burma Army IB 241 and IB 568 launched attacks on Dak Let Bum, where KIA civilian militia MHH and KIA 9th Battalion troops were stationed under KIA’s 4th Brigade in Kut Hkai Township, Northern Shan State. Fighting occurred at 10:10am and again at 4pm.

2 April 2013

•At 07:00am, TNLA troops defended against about 60 troops from Burma Army IB 45 as the Burma Army troops attacked in territory under KIA’s 8th Battalion, 4th Brigade, around Loi Lung, Nam San and Man Sai Hkau Villages in Northern Shan State.

1 April 2013

•At 10:00pm, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) troops defended against about 60 troops from Burma Army IB 45, which was making attacks in territory under KIA’s 8th Battalion, 4th Brigade, near Man Pang Village in Northern Shan state.

God bless you,
Kachin Free Burma Rangers

Dear friends,

On Friday afternoon, 22 March, a fire devastated the Mae Surin Refugee Camp, home to more than 3,605 people. The deadly fire killed 39 people and left 2300 homeless. The response of people wanting to help has been swift. Thank you for part in this and for the help for these Karenni families. Here is an update and photos of the situation and a thank you for all who helped. This report is written by the team we sent to help.

Refugees and their burned homes

Refugees and their burned homes

We first learned of the fire in the middle of a border mission near Karen State, but, as we were far away, there was little we could do immediately. Also, our work is not typically in refugee camps and we had no emergency funds set aside for this sort of situation. But we sought a way to help, as people were in need, we have been there many times and several ex-Rangers and many once-IDP families from Burma now call this camp home.

With no clear answer on what to do, Dave prayed for a way FBR could help. A little later, he received a message from The Best Friends Library who supports people in need from Burma. They had relief supplies and funds, but no means of transporting them to the camp. While we had no money or supplies, we did have trucks and rangers ready. Doh Say, a Karenni FBR leader, led the trip, joined by a few volunteers.

Doh Say talks with survivors

We left at 9 a.m. the morning after our return from the border. Ten hours and several engine overheating stops later we arrived at the gate to the camp, unsure of whether or not we would be allowed in. Three hours prior, we had received a phone call that the camp gate would close at 5 p.m. and it was now 7. We prayed for an opening and were able to go in.

Driving thru camp after delevering supplies

We drove into rocky flats along a riverbed leading to the camp, and were greeted by hundreds of candlelit tents lining steep canyon walls, the candlelight reflecting off the snaking river we were driving through. We drove straight up the river in places, finally coming to a halt at an oasis of technology in this remote camp: the emergency response center, complete with satellites, internet, and aid workers.

Resilient refugees

By flashlight we entered the camp, and, crisscrossing the river, we soon came to the area which had burned. The air smelled of recently scorched earth and, in places, logs continued to smolder. Charred bamboo poles rose from the ground and each step left footprints in the ash. We soon arrived at the bamboo home of the camp chairwoman. I’m not sure whether they knew of our arrival, but they made space for us to sleep in and prepared dinner.

We rose in the morning to deliver relief supplies, including rice and cooking materials, and begin interviewing victims. We made visits to families in two sections displaced by the fire, as well as interviewing several other victims and the camp chairwoman. The fire victims were living in temporary tarp shelters.

New shelters for refugees

In total, the blaze destroyed 380 homes out of 685. The camp is divided into four sections and the fire consumed sections 1 and 4, displacing approximately 2,300 people. In addition to the homes, the fire burned 2 churches, 1 Bible school, and a large medical clinic. In total, 37 people died from the fire, including two pregnant women with un-born babies.

The refugees interviewed said they had time between seeing the fire and it arriving at their home. One section burned in 10-15 minutes while the other burned over the course of 30-60 minutes. Some did not know what to do and ran in and out of their homes in fright. Many were not able to save possessions from their homes. Others attempted to fight the fire instead of gathering their belongings. Many of those who died did so because they went in to rescue others.

The first interview we conducted was with a woman name Bleh Paw. In her words: “I was cooking when I saw smoke rising from the houses below…” It is unclear how fast the fire spread, but it was rapid enough to leave some in a panic. Bleh Paw continued,saying, “I was scared. I ran in and out of the house not knowing what to do….” Her family escaped from the fire safely, but lost all their belongings in the blaze.

A second interview was conducted with a man named Saw Hebeh. He first learned about the fire from children shouting that houses were burning. He then began to “…throw water on [his] house and many other people did the same….” However, he “Became worried about [his] children and was unable to save any of the things in the house.”

According to the refugees, relief response came fast and we thank the Thai Government, The Border Consortium, the Best Friend Library and all who have led the way and helped in this. The refugees now feel they have received sufficient food rations. Their main needs include cooking pots and machetes. Much of a villager’s daily routine, from rebuilding to cooking, is done by machete. They do not have enough—or large enough—cooking pots to make food for their entire families. The sections of the destroyed refugee camp contained predominately Christian families and they requested new Bibles, as theirs were mostly burned in the fire. Apart from their emergency needs, long-term needs include the supplies necessary for rebuilding their homes, churches, a Bible school, and also a medical clinic.

The local church remains strong and resilient. Despite having lost so much they still celebrated Easter Sunday. Though wisps of smoke now rose from where bamboo churches had once stood, at 11 a.m. songs started to rise from the buildings that remained standing. The body of believers, some of whom lost their church and homes, still found places to fellowship and worship.

Please pray for those who lost so much as well as those now in hospital with serious burns.

We are thankful to all those of you who have sent immediate help and we will be sending in more funds and supplies to the refugees.

God bless you,

The Free Burma Rangers

I posed a question on Facebook about ammunition availability across the United States.  About 150 answers have come in so far:

My Facebook Page

To see all comments:  My Facebook Page

US Army Master Sergeant CJ Grisham: This Soldier has a Top Secret clearance.

Over the past couple of years, I repeatedly warned the US Army that Master Sergeant Christopher “CJ” Grisham is a lethal threat.  These warnings were ignored.

Grisham has harassed a long list of people, and has stalked me.  Ignoring him did not work.  Grisham contacted units with which I was embedded, and he impeded my wartime work.  I continued to warn the Army that if they did not get this Soldier under control, there would be consequences.  After some time, the inevitable occurred.

I never met Grisham.  Never saw him in person.  Never spoke with him.  Initially, his motivations for stalking me were mysterious, apparently stemming from my failure to answer an email during a period when I was receiving thousands.  Despite my efforts, nearly 8,000 emails remain unopened, though I continue to work through the backlog.  Grisham seemed to be upset that I did not reply.  I do not recall his message.

Over time, Grisham’s intentions became clear.  He craves attention, and I had a large footprint at the time, due to public interest in the wars.

Grisham joined the angry chorus of stay-at-home, radically rightwing milbloggers who were apoplectic when I declared from Afghanistan that Brigadier General Daniel Menard should be fired.  When I subsequently added General Stanley McChrystal to the list and called for him to be relieved, the criticism reached a crescendo.

Months later, Menard was relieved of command, charged with transgressions of military justice, based on a few comments that I published on Facebook.

President Obama then fired General McChrystal due to his own indiscretions.  I returned to Afghanistan at the personal invitation of General Petraeus.

Grisham can be persuasive.  He wasted no time contacting Soldiers attached to the combat unit that I embedded with, filling their heads with stories, some of which were believed by those who were dull enough.

Although I was giving positive ink to 4-4Cav, problems percolated from Civil Affairs (of all places) Soldiers that I had not yet met, and my subsequent total face time with them does not exceed five minutes.  Grisham had contacted members of the Civil Affairs unit attached to 4-4Cav, to rally them against my work.  Members of 4-4Cav and their families appreciated the dispatches and made me feel welcome, but the Civil Affairs tainted by Grisham became a problem.

Meanwhile, Grisham was a poster boy for Soldiers’ Angels, a charity organization that was later exposed funneling donations to a company partially owned by the son of the founder. Nepotism.

Grisham raised money for Soldiers’ Angels, and he persuaded them to join him in creating problems for me.  Collectively, they leaked over social media, and their activities gradually came into focus.

SA shared the same modus operandi with Grisham: when anyone posed an innocent question about their activities, the questions were not met with polite answers but were dismissed with aggressive public ridicule and ad hominem attacks.  Valid questions were never answered.

Donors were afraid to ask about the lavish parties thrown by SA, and the habit of a board member to misuse donations to fly his girlfriend to assignations.  The curious were beaten down and ridiculed.

The leadership of Soldiers’ Angels implemented a culture of fear.  Members were afraid to question their leadership, and to criticize it was to invite a tidal wave of ill.  Some members were afraid to leave the organization to join another.

There is nuance: SA is a vast organization, and members out on the tendrils who were doing important work may not have realized that at the core, SA was rotting.

Many folks will defend SA with their hearts, not realizing the charades and politics back at HQ.  Adding to confusion, unrelated organizations lifted the name “Soldiers’ Angels,” though are not related to the original group.

These details lead to misunderstandings.  When criticizing Soldiers’ Angels leadership, many people may believe offense is directed at them, when in reality the ridicule is limited to this group at HQ.

Initially the leadership of SA had its way, but when I left the war, there was time to research the charity and the subsequent revelations were devastating.  The organization today is collapsing.

In retrospect, they realize it would have been better to leave me alone in the war.

In 2011, while we both were in Afghanistan, Grisham made a not-so-veiled threat in writing that he would like to kill me.  I was accompanying combat missions in Zhari, while Grisham never left Kandahar Airfield (KAF) about twenty miles away.  KAF was the hub that I often passed through and sometimes lived on.

So now I needed to be watchful for IEDs, suicide bombers, enemy gunfire, green on blue attacks and US Soldiers in the rear, in the form of Grisham and his pals.  I had to worry about my back, so it was over.

The US Army should never leave senior NCOs in war zones carrying automatic weapons when they display signs of instability, and for the most part, this policy is observed.  Sometimes troops are disarmed, or the bolts are removed from their weapons, but many blue on blue murders in Iraq and Afghanistan still occurred.

Grisham complained on his blog and on Twitter of fear, stress, and mental issues while he was in Afghanistan, and the Army subsequently did the right thing and sent him home about halfway through his tour.

Grisham saw no combat in Afghanistan.  He publicly insists that he completed his tour there.  This is a lie.

Given my vulnerability to a defamation lawsuit, I would not dare write these words if they were untrue.  If any of my statements were unsupportable, Grisham and Soldiers’ Angels could crush me in a court of law.

It will never happen. Truth remains an affirmative defense, and they are all sufficiently public figures.  I lawyered up in advance of publishing the most perilous pieces.  We reviewed every word in detail, figuring that a lawsuit was inevitable.

Grisham boasts that he received a Bronze Star with V (valor) award for wiping out an Iraqi squad with only a grenade and a pistol.  In three years of embedding with units in combat, I have never seen such a feat, nor heard about anything comparable.

Why is this important?  Soldiers’ Angels siphons millions of dollars that could go someplace worthy, like Fisher House, and Grisham, despite his behavior, remains influential through his writings and podcasts.

He uses the Bronze Star medal and “PTSD” as credentials, and simultaneously wields both the medal and “PTSD” to shut down anyone who dares challenge his views.  He sometimes interacts with national media.

Grisham refuses to publish the narrative for his Bronze Star medal to support his claims.

Repeated FOIA requests return no evidence that Grisham ever engaged an Iraqi squad.  No one who served with Grisham has come forward to support his statements.  Where is his commander who submitted the story of wiping out an Iraqi squad?  Give us names, a date, a place.  If this occurred, he was out there with a unit and there would be plenty of witnesses.

Eventually, as so often happens, Grisham’s Bronze Star citation materialized:

Unlike most Bronze Stars with V, which are appropriately granted for specific acts of valor under fire, Grisham’s does not cite a particular incident.

A typical Bronze Star with V cites a specific event, such as this: http://www.armywriter.com/bronze-star-medal-v-device.htm

Grisham’s is a strange citation for someone alleging that they single-handedly wiped out an Iraqi squad. The omission reeks of a scam.

Grisham’s medal is an attaboy, a “Thank you for coming to the war” award, issued for the period 20 March to 30 April.  The Army issues these like confetti during a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Yet Grisham unleashed an advertising blitz. In 2009 the Army Times interviewed Grisham and published:

“…during the invasion of Iraq, Grisham took down a squad of Iraqis when his counterintelligence detachment got pinned down in an ambush. He earned the Bronze Star with ‘V’ after rushing through the gunfire by himself with just a 9mm pistol and a hand grenade.”

If true, Grisham should have received a Silver Star, and knowing Army Public Affairs, they would have run this up the flagpole.

Nowhere in Grisham’s records that have been released through FOIA is there any mention of this alleged action. No eyewitnesses have stepped forward to confirm his claims.

It appears that Grisham duped Army Times staff writer Jon R. Andersen, who despite my repeated efforts to seek clarification, also refuses to provide evidence for the claim, thus jeopardizing the credibility of Army Times.

Andersen and Army Times appear to be carrying Grisham’s water in what amounts to a case of Stolen Valor.

Gannett, which owns Army Times, can clear this up by publishing the documentation that allowed Army Times to print that account of Grisham’s actions.

One might believe that Soldiers who have been to war have no reason to engage in Stolen Valor, yet even otherwise admirable soldiers often embellish their pedigrees.

A Command Sergeant Major of FORSCOM engaged in Stolen Valor when he lied about being a POW. Those who are interested can Google the perplexing case of CSM Richard Cayton.

Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda was Chief of Naval Operations when he was called out for wearing an unauthorized “V” device for valor.  He committed suicide.  Shot himself in the chest.

By many accounts Admiral Boorda was a great officer.  I have seen people talking about him in private circles, people who knew him well, who said he deserved the “V”, but it was not authorized.

Such cases erupt so often that the Ford Motor Company could learn something from the Stolen Valor assembly line.

Army General pins Jessica with award known to be fraudulent.

Jessica Lynch was awarded a Bronze Star with V, while assigned to the same Division during the same timeframe as Grisham.

Jessica was described as bravely fighting back the enemy during an ambush, but she later stated that she never fired her weapon and that she was unconscious during the engagement.

Jessica honorably asserted that she did not deserve the award.

This was during the beginning of the Iraq campaign when the number of medals being handed out practically threatened a bronze shortage.

Such cases illustrate the difference between Stolen Valor and Counterfeit Valor.

When Ranger Pat Tillman was killed by fratricide by other US Rangers, it was distressing, and embarrassing.

Pat Tillman turned down a multi-million-dollar NFL contract to serve his country.  In return, our own men shot him, and then his command manufactured a coverup.  There was no enemy around.  The shooting was done by Tillman’s own unit:

From Pat’s Silver Star narrative:

“Caught between the crossfire of an enemy near ambush, Corporal Tillman put himself in the line of devastating enemy fire as he maneuvered his fire team to a covered position from which they could effectively employ their weapons on known enemy positions. His audacious leadership and courageous example under fire inspired his men to fight at great risk to their own personal safety, resulting in the enemy’s withdrawal, his platoon’s safe passage from the ambush kill zone, and his mortal wound. Corporal Tillman’s personal courage, tactical expertise, and professional competence directly contributed to his platoon’s overall success and survival. In making the ultimate sacrifice for his team and platoon, Corporal Patrick D. Tillman reflected great credit upon himself, the Joint Task Force, and the United States Army.”

This palliative, keep-your-mouth-shut medal, though completely counterfeit, was endorsed by General Stanley McChrystal himself, who later warned President Bush that it was fake: the truth was leaking, muddying the water of lies.

Later, the three-star General McChrystal received a fourth star. When I encountered his bullshit in Afghanistan, I bucked the prevailing winds and I asserted that he should be fired.  This was severly damaging to me, but that is fine.

Jessica and Pat were both cases of Counterfeit Valor, where their imaginary actions were manufactured for public relations.  The awards were administratively real.

These were not cases of Stolen Valor.  The recipients did not carry the bucket of public relations lies.  Jessica debunked them.  Pat was dead.  The Rangers in his platoon spoke for him.

Had Jessica fallen in line and kept her mouth shut, we might never have known.  How many times has this happened?

Counterfeit Valor cases can be difficult to prove because they are often included in official records.  Witting officials already have lied about them.

It is no secret that some commanders submit medals to cover their own poor performance, or to disguise embarrassment, or as favor.

Most saddening is that I have been with numerous battalions where nearly everyone in the battalion deserved at least a Bronze Star with V.

Deuce Four in Iraq is a fine example.  Even most of the TOC-jocks went on hairy combat missions.  This battalion, and others, such as 4-4Cav, 2-7Cav, 1-6FA, 1-4INF, and most of the 1st and 5th Styrker Brigades, Pedro, Dustoff, all those excellent British infantrymen, deserved nearly blanket Bronze Stars with V, or equivalent.  The British Soldiers deserved it just for showing up to work in Basra and Sangin.

In many of the units I wrote about, the hard part would not be in figuring out who deserved the award, but who did not.  My friends from all of these units do not brag about all the war they waded through.

Stolen Valor cases are often exposed when the perpetrator is immodest. As the tales unfold, the perpetrator displays typical behaviors:

1)    Attention is garnered because he (sometimes she) is boastful, or because perpetrators exploit credentials for gain or fame. Such decorations are abused to support VA claims for PTSD, for example.

2)    When confronted, Stolen Valor perpetrators typically refuse to provide documentation, saying they are above it.  A corollary to this behavior is the claim that “records are classified.”

In practice, this is rarely true. When the “classified records” card is played, assume that the claim is fraudulent until proven true.

In the perhaps 1% of cases where the statement is factual, there are mechanisms that the VA can employ to verify them.

3)    The person under scrutiny is uncooperative, makes counteraccusations and unleashes ad hominem attacks, claiming that investigators are on a witch hunt.  (Sometimes they are.)  This deflection is common. In all cases, releasing pertinent documentation could make the dispute vanish and exonerate the accused.  But since the accused is guilty, he digs in.

4)    FOIA requests to the National Personnel Records Center return no supporting documents, upon which the accused indicts the military for poor record-keeping (which is sometimes shoddy), while still refusing to provide documentation themselves.

5)    They threaten lawsuits, and they sometimes actually file suit, but they lose.  I watched a recent case closely.

A lawyer named John Giduck claimed special operations expertise in his background biographies for speaking engagements and in his books, and he made big money presenting seminars to law enforcement agencies around the country.  After the speaking tour begins, it becomes its own credential and often nobody checks the original man.

Giduck made outlandish claims and was exposed as a fraud, yet he sued real special operations veterans for telling the truth.

Sadly, a few credentialed members of the special operations community vouched for Giduck, and a famous and influential author sent me a long email in support of John Giduck.

People such as Giduck can be difficult to expose even when the glove fits.  When they have strong social support from credentialed people, and when the house of cards is discovered, sometimes the supporters dig in with the accused because they are embarrassed, or because they have personal interest in ensuring that his credentials not be shattered.  This creates a fog of confusion.  Using counteraccusations, even a guilty party can come out on top.

This dynamic in the Giduck case caused a rift within the special operations community.  A small number of corrupt diehards defended Giduck, though most of his allies fell silent.

The majority called out Giduck, and then Giduck sued nearly 50 people.  Giduck lost his case, and was ordered by the judge to pay the attorney fees of those he had sued.

Giduck so far has refused to pay, so the defendants have placed liens on his real property. Other defendants have filed a countersuit. The case continues.  I continue to watch with interest as motions fly.

6)   Some, when cornered, finally confess to fraud, while others carry the stink to the grave, even when everyone sees through.  Giduck is still dug in like a tick on a hounddog.

Both the Special Operations Association and the Special Forces Association repudiated him, but Giduck insists that he is the victim of a “global criminal conspiracy to destroy his business.”  He still has defenders.

7)    Some appear to truly believe that they performed the actions that they claim, even when their claims are definitively disproven.  They seem prone to self-delusion.

Powerful contrary evidence can include proof that they were not in-country, for example, or that they were assigned to a different unit, or that they never served in the military.

These cases unfold frequently.  Some people probably believe they are Jesus, but others latch onto the military.  Perhaps they are not lying in the moral sense because they seem to believe it, just as some people believe they are sorcerers or vampires.

Given Grisham’s refusal to provide supporting documents, the repeated FOIAs that returned no evidence, his frequent boasting about the medal, his constant ad hominem counterattacks along with perpetual threats of lawsuits, and the vanishing possibility that he is Rambo enough to wipe out an Iraqi squad with a grenade and 9mm pistol, a reasonable man can conclude that it is probable that Grisham is lying.

Grisham does not owe explanation to me, but he owes it to you, and to the public at large, and he owes it to those whom he asks for money.

He owes explanation to the Gannett Corporation and to Army Times staff writer Jon R. Andersen, whose credibility is jeopardized.

Gannett and the Army Times have an obligation to subscribers, to readers, and to advertisers to come clean.

If Grisham duped the Army Times, fine.  It happens to the best of us.  Come clean.  We will get over it quickly.

But if Gannett and the Army Times aids and abets Stolen Valor or disrespects readers by failing to confirm that it has legitimate evidence, it undermines its own credibility and legitimacy.

The Afghanistan War

While Grisham was deployed to Afghanistan, enemy bombs and bullets were literally killing Soldiers with whom I was embedded.

Rather than trying to figure out who was killing Soldiers in his area of responsibility, Grisham was laboring over his blog while stationed in the air-conditioned rear at Kandahar Airfield.

It has been reported that US citizens pay about one million dollars per Soldier per year to deploy to Afghanistan.  While they are deployed, troops should work, and most do.

But while we were getting blown up and shot, Grisham was blogging thousands of words, including:

“Today, I listened to the advice of more than a few people and finally went to the TMC and Combat Stress hospital. My right hand hasn’t stopped twitching after nearly a month and it’s beyond irritating. I’m not sleeping, not eating, and highly irritable. I’ve been under a lot of stress and feel like many of those above me are just making things worse. So, for three hours today, I sat and got to revisit many issues related to my PTSD, depression, and anxiety as well as some new ones.”

We sent this guy to beat the Taliban.  The Taliban monitor sites by deployed troops.  They must have been laughing their turbans off.

Why would a counterintelligence senior NCO flood the Internet with photos of himself, his wife, and his children, all while talking about his mental and money problems?  That is borderline solicitation to sell state secrets.

To an enemy intelligence professional, his words sound like, “I am crazy, weak, I do not like my leadership, and need some money.  I have a Top Secret clearance and a computer that flies on the highway of secrets.”  “Boris – send this Grisham the honey trap, not that he needs a trap!”

Instead of figuring who was shooting at us, Grisham was spending massive time harassing me on Facebook, haunting my website, and continuing to cause problems within the unit that I was covering.

His flaccid command group cost the 4-4Cav a possible book.  A documentary film company was lining up to come over.  As a result, the courageous efforts of 4-4Cav will never be properly documented.

One wonders if any of our KIA would still be alive if Grisham’s commander had exerted appropriate authority over his Intelligence unit, and focused them on the battlefield instead of on Facebook, blogs, and mischief that so clearly exposes us to espionage and exploitation.

Grisham was all about attracting attention, latching like a remora onto anything related to PTSD, constantly trying to associate with famous people, or to get his picture taken with celebrities, which he would publish.  An enemy spy could tap into that vanity.

People with Top Secret clearances should not blog about every facet of their lives, while advertising they have TS clearance, as Grisham so often does.  At minimum, this creates a personality profile that a professional can use to fashion a key to unlock a brain with access to state secrets.

When I did not give Grisham quality time, he stalked.  Anything for attention.  I was giving great press to 4-4Cav, but never mind that.  If Grisham could not get ink, neither should they.

So now our fictitious enemy spy knows that Grisham will sell out fellow Soldiers, does not like his leadership, has money problems, purrs for attention, wants to be a hero, and is weak.  Anyone could cut a key to open that door.

When MEDEVAC failures mounted and I exposed them, Grisham latched on.  Grisham knows nothing about MEDEVAC or real combat, yet that did not stop him from contacting the press and Congressman Todd Akin and others who were taking up the cause.

Our efforts and the team that we created led to MEDEVAC changes that must have already saved lives.

According to Army Dustoff and Air Force Pedro pilots, our efforts worked, yet Grisham in his quest for glory publicly opposed the MEDEVAC issue, again selling out comrades in exchange for attention, while waving his Bronze Star.

If Grisham is not a traitor in the legal sense, he is a moral traitor.  He frequently sells out fellow Soldiers for a minute of press or gratification.

Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair, on trial for rape

In Afghanistan, command refused to order him to stop troublemaking.  I asked the key people to intervene and finally began arguing with PAO officers, one of which, a lieutenant colonel at RC-South, I hung up on.

It was becoming tiresome to get shot at with bullets while pulling knives from my back.  Life is too short.  It is said that I had already embedded more with combat units than anyone in US history.  If they wanted good ink, they had to cooperate.  No negotiation on that.  Nobody needs embeds, and nobody will beg to give good ink to the Army while risking getting their legs blown off.   I was only there at invitation of Petraeus, but he was back in America, and I would not reach that high for this.

But should this have been a surprise?  In Afghanistan, Grisham fell under the command known as RC-South.

During Grisham’s tour at Kandahar, Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair was relieved from RC-South and sent home, and today is on trial for rape, among other crimes.

There is no dispute that Sinclair engaged in adultery, a violation of military discipline.  Sinclair does not deny it, but is contesting the allegations of rape and other charges.

Sinclair is another pedigreed soldier loaded with ribbons and medals and accolades, above reproach from we mere mortals.  It was difficult to get relief in that command climate which must have sanctioned his attacks, despite the positive dispatches I was publishing.

Grisham Quits

Finally, in 2011 in Afghanistan, Grisham gave up.  His character was shattered.  He could no longer handle the stress of working in the rear on dusty Kandahar Airfield.

The incoming rockets were loud and caused buildings and Grisham to tremble.  During one attack, Grisham wanted to run for a bunker, but a female Major ordered him to remain at work in the office.  Grisham tweeted that the rockets frightened him.

While the base pizza makers, the ice cream sellers, journalists, and thousands of civilian contractors endured the rocket strikes for years, US Army Master Sergeant Christopher “CJ” Grisham was spent.  He asked to leave Afghanistan and to go home.

The self-described hero, who claimed that he rushed through a hail of bullets with only a grenade and a pistol, wiping out a squad of Iraqis, tweeted:

“I’m no longer in theater. I requested to come home early to deal with some issues.”

Publicly emasculated, the tweet backfired. Grisham deleted it, changing his story much later, saying that he was ordered home for skin cancer.

After losing his piece of the war in Afghanistan, Grisham went home to Temple, Texas, and posted this image, while his unit remained in-country.  Young Soldiers stayed behind to do their duty, and Grisham bragged online about going to a Godsmack concert.  Again, the very definition of a moral traitor.

Earlier, he had complained about money problems and his inability to pay his bills, and then he admitted that he purchases ammunition with every paycheck.

Grisham may have never engaged an enemy combatant, but he published this image of a mouse, boasting that he killed it.

After Grisham fled the war to play, he had even more time to needle people online.

Today Grisham lives in Temple, Texas.

On 16 March 2013, he was charged with resisting arrest.  He was carrying a pistol and an AR-15 rifle in public.

From the local paper in Temple:

“The officer said Grisham was angry and irate, yelling at him that he wouldn’t give up his gun, yet he reached to take it from Grisham. … Grisham tried to pull it away…officer reportedly drew his weapon and pointed it at Grisham.”

“…officer finally gained control of…Grisham and held him against…patrol car until help arrived….passively resisted their attempts to handcuff him….additional weapon under his shirt at his waist.”

According to the article, he was arrested at the 7000 Block of Prairie View road. The top red line points to his home. The report says that he was first spotted in the area of Airport Road and Old Howard Road. (Bottom red line.)

Just the day before he was arrested, a story appeared online about his previous dealings with the city:

“When Temple resident C.J. Grisham, a U.S. Army master sergeant, presented the Temple City Council with a gun rights resolution, the city became one of a series of Texas cities and counties being called on to articulate commitment to Texas residents’ Second Amendment rights. Per the Temple Daily Telegram, Grisham asked the council to ‘declare that citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms will not be infringed upon.’”

Grisham then sparked a public letter writing contest with Temple Mayor Bill Jones.  The “Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran” baited Mayor Jones into being an actor on his stage.  The press was already running stories.  2nd Amendment defenders were getting riled up, having no idea they were just props in Grisham’s play.  Perfect.

The props were in place for a confrontation with police, similar to what he had done in Alabama with a school board, described in this 2009 article:

“Did complaint get him demoted?”

Grisham acknowledged standing up on his seat and slamming his fist at the parent meeting, but said his behavior was not alarming. Others apparently disagreed.

Superintendent Ann Roy Moore said she received e-mails from parents who claimed to be uncomfortable with Grisham's behavior at the parent meeting. She said the school's principal, Avis Williams, contacted a Redstone liaison officer about the situation but not Grisham's commanding officer.

Grisham, who did not attend the Thursday meeting, said the complaint led to his demotion from first sergeant to master sergeant. "My standing has been put into question" with his superiors, he said before the meeting.

As per normal, in 2009, he alerted the press: “Grisham’s supporters, led by WVNN talk show host Dale Jackson, helped fill the board meeting room.”

In 2009, major bloggers came out to support him.  Though his conduct scared a room full of civilians, and they reported his behavior to the local military, Grisham resorted to typical threats to sue them.  He set up a legal fund, and stayed engaged in the press battle.  No legal case was brought, and the money that he raised disappeared.

2nd Amendment Icon

Today in 2013, Grisham is trying to reincarnate himself as a war hero and 2nd Amendment icon.  Many true champions and martyrs are arrested and jailed, so the frauds need to follow the same script in this play.

On 16 March, the day after the Examiner article above was published, Grisham grabbed a long gun and a pistol, and corralled his son, who Grisham claims is working on the requisites to be an Eagle Scout, and he set out to attract some publicity.

Lights, Camera, Action

Using his 15-year-old son as a prop, Grisham walked down a four-lane highway with the assault rifle, like he was walking patrol in Baghdad.   He crossed another four-lane road and kept going.  The rifle was loaded with a magazine and a round in the chamber.

Given the climate in America, is there any wonder that a civilian might call 911 and report a strange man walking along the freeway with an AR-15?  Is there any wonder that police responded to the call, sending a squad car to check it out?  Grisham knew how to make all the actors assemble and read his script.  His son was instructed to videotape the events.

Grisham is quoted in the local paper:

“This past weekend while on a 10-mile hike with my 15-year-old son to complete requirements for his Eagle Scout rank, I was illegally detained, stripped of my weapons, and arrested when I refused to voluntarily surrender them.”

The Eagle Scout twist was a nice touch.

Only a sick man would use his son as a stage-prop and cameraman in an armed confrontation with law enforcement.  Grisham has privately shared this video in an effort to gain support, but as happened during the Alabama drama, Grisham is known for creative editing.

It is notable that no major group such as the NRA has lifted a finger in support.  If the NRA would get involved, that would be a coup.

Meanwhile, Grisham began another fundraiser for $11,000 on Indiegogo, claiming that his arrest is a 2nd Amendment issue that should concern us all.  He claims that a tyrannical government illegally seized his guns, adding that he could lose his Top Secret clearance and pension.

Grisham is the last person that any of us need to defend our 2nd Amendment rights.  He is a perfect poster boy for radical opposition and disarming veterans.  He publicly complains about hearing voices in his head, and published about curling up in the fetal position on his bed, unable to function.  If any Soldier’s right to own privately owned weapons should be reviewed, Grisham is that soldier.  We cannot accept this person as a 2nd Amendment advocate.

How does someone who complains that they hear voices, someone who is deceptive by nature, who is beset with anger issues and self-proclaimed money problems, hold a Top Secret clearance?  This is a recipe for disaster.  Bradley Manning comes to mind.

Manning had sufficient free time while on duty to laboriously gather gigabytes of State Department cables, and to send them to WikiLeaks. To say that Manning represents a failure of supervision is an understatement.

Manning, like Grisham, was in an Intelligence position.  Special scrutiny and oversight over such troops should be a given, for obvious reasons.

Grisham published this image of his personally owned weapons. He would not need to solicit for funding if he liquidated this arsenal. Buyers would snap up these weapons at a high price.

Grisham’s current fundraiser is fraudulent.  He sells it as a 2nd Amendment issue, when clearly the 2nd Amendment, Eagle Scouts, police, journalists, Mayor Bill Jones, a “war hero” and his son the cameraman, are all stage props to raise money and attention.

I alerted the Army Inspector General and I received a reply, though if experience is any clue, it is doubtful that Grisham’s chain of command will do much.  The Army has become undisciplined.

To put this in perspective, during my eight years with combat troops (nearly five years on active duty, and three as a writer), I have said that only two soldiers represented lethal threats.

The first soldier is dead.  He shot himself in Afghanistan after an investigation was launched into claims that he sexually harassed another officer.  A FOIA request returned the investigation, which I read in amazement.  He was sick.

Yet he was a West Point grad (top of his class), a Ranger Regiment veteran of two wars, from a pedigreed family, much decorated and a true war hero.  Another “untouchable.”

No civilian could criticize this man and survive with reputation intact.  In combat, I saw him in action.   He was the real deal, but personally, he was an arrogant, self-centered monster to nearly everyone, including his men.

He confronted me one day in Iraq literally snarling with anger.  It was a dog snarl.  A corner of his upper lip was twitching wildly like a fishhook was pulling it.  I have never seen a person’s lip do that.  His adrenaline had dumped.  He was screaming.  I was mesmerized by his crazy lip.  He was a breath away from attacking.

We had just been in a serious firefight.  Three men had been hit that morning in two separate events (one enemy, two U.S.), and there had been hand-to-hand combat.  One of his men told me later in concern that he nearly had taken the firefight as a chance to shoot me, and in an unguarded moment, actually said so to his men.  He could not even control what came out of his mouth.  He hated and despised anything that smacked of media.

He did not scream at me at the firefight.  It was maybe an hour later, back on base, that his lip was twitching, and he was screaming one foot from my face, I yelled back in his face, “fuck off!”

No Sigmund Freud was needed to see that he was homicidally loony, with boiling anger issues.  He was an emotional wreck, but he was an untouchable.

I warned several times that he would kill somebody, or that one of his men might kill him.  Though I expected his premature death, his suicide was a surprise.

His crimes were revealed by the investigation.  He put a female officer through hell because she refused sex, and despite being so smart, he would email her explicit traffic.  He was newly married with a young child.  He was physically courageous but a moral coward.  He proved both with his rifle.

The second lethal threat I warned about is Christopher Grisham.

I have a few theories about why the Army has not discharged Grisham.  1) His command wants him around because he serves some purpose other than work.  2) He has the goods on some high-ranking people in his chain of command.  3) The Army is simply broken.

If forced to choose one these probabilities, I go with number three.

The Army is broken, and it has failed to properly supervise Grisham, and he repeatedly engages in contentious behavior that frightens and angers civilians, in the most public venues possible.

Weak leadership that allows this to continue brings bad light on the Army, a ton of ill-will, and questions about the Army’s ability to defend the United States.

In closing, Gannett, Army Times, and staff writer Jon R. Andersen should come clean with proof of Grisham’s claims, or apologize for being duped into telling readers that he wiped out a squad of Iraqi soldiers with a pistol and a grenade.

Written proof of Grisham’s alleged heroics can suffice for purposes of due diligence. But it will not address the fact that the Army is well known for Counterfeit Valor.

I invite anyone who can validate Grisham’s version of events to come forward with evidence.  Without that narrative, and credible eyewitnesses to back it up, this duck is cooked.

Historical links:

Grisham and instability during his Afghanistan tour.

Grisham and guns.

Family and Friends,

I've been meaning to write this email for some time now.  I thought it would be better to hold off until the big event was close, but I didn't expect it to be just a few days away when I sent this!  As you can tell, I'm about to depart on a huge journey.  On Thursday, March 28th, I'm flying to Nepal to lead a team of Air Force members to Mt. Everest.  Six of us will go for the summit, and six other Airmen will turn around upon reaching Everest Base Camp.  Three of these folks are wounded warriors who I invited to join us in hopes that it aids them in their emotional and physical recoveries.  No team of US military members has ever attempted to climb Mt. Everest.  If successful, not only will we be the first team of American military members to reach the summit, but we will also be the first military team from any nation to successfully climb the '7 Summits'- the highest peak on each of the seven continents.

I'm sure to most of you this isn't breaking news!  I created this climbing challenge back in 2005 with my best friend Mark Uberuaga when we were stationed with the Air Force in England.  Since then, I've been traveling the world, climbing mountains in an effort to raise esprit d' corps among Airmen, generate positive media stories, promote physical and mental health, and to honor my friends who have died since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.  We've also been raising awareness of a great charity that pays for all the college costs for children who lose a parent serving in US Special Operations, as well as a charity that serves the men and women of Air Force Combat Rescue- the folks tasked with saving lives in the worst of conditions.  Over the last eight years, we've raised over $70,000 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and That Others May Live Foundation.

Suicides in the military keep going up, so I'm really hoping we can strike a chord with the Air Force and other branches when it comes to the link between physical exertion and mental health.  I've been through my lows, especially when working from an isolated area or after the loss of a friend, but I found that the best medicine for me was to get outside, get my body working, and to start sweating.  There is also something healing about forests, mountains, rivers, and oceans.  It's my hope that I can help find a way to safely get military members suffering from depression, PTSD or a similar personal issue into the outdoors and give them the opportunity to sweat, get their heart rates up, and to renew their confidence and self esteem.  Perhaps after Everest I'll get that chance!

Many of you have generously supported me and these charities throughout these climbs.  Well, this is the last of the seven!  I'm sure I'll keep climbing, but as far as our project goes, this big one is also the final one.  So I'm writing to ask for your support for this last mountain.  If you are interested in making a donation, it's real easy this time.  You can visit http://usaf7summits.com/contact-donate.php.  It's possible to donate through Amazon or Paypal on our site.  If you'd rather not do it through those services, you can send a check made out to the 'USAF 7 Summits Challenge'.  My mailing address is at the bottom of the email.  50% of your donation will go directly to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which is a 501(c)3.  The other 50% will go to the USAF 7 Summits Challenge, a 501(c)19 'War Veterans Organization', and be used to pay for climbing gear, permits, and logistics.  So your donation is tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.  However, if you want to adjust the percentages, just let me know and we'll make it happen!

I'm happy to say that we're going to be doing daily updates throughout the expedition.  Our website has been revamped thanks to the donation of a local Amarillo web development firm, so it's looking real nice!  Visit http://www.usaf7summits.com/blog, where you will be able to follow us up the mountain and hopefully see photos every day or so.  Our wounded warriors and climbers will be writing about the journey, likely in personal ways, so I think you'll find the reading quite entertaining.

My brain is pretty tired- it's soon to be 1:40am here and I've spent the day packing dozens of medications, first aid kit supplies, climbing gear, and clothes, so I better wrap this up!  Lots more packing to do tomorrow after work.  I'm smiling, thinking about what the next 70 days are going to hold for me.  My heart is happy, as I've wanted to return to Everest ever since I stood at its base in 2001.  I had no intention of climbing it, but when I visited it on a cloudy, deserted day in June, I had the strangest feeling that I needed to return.  But it needed to be for something bigger than just me.  Well, it took 12 years, but here I am, on my way back to the mountain, and it's for a cause bigger than I could have ever imagined way back then.  It is going to be an epic adventure and I thank all of you for supporting me with your friendship, love and wisdom throughout all these years.

Feel free to pass this email on to anyone you think might be interested in following our progress on Everest.  Oh, and I am planning on setting a world record for pushups on the summit of Everest.  I've done pushups on every mountain I've climbed since I went to the Air Force Academy in '97.  Back then it was just to show the mountain didn't kick my butt.  These days, it's to honor those no longer with us.  Some people egg me on by pledging donations to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation for every pushup I do in one minute.  If you'd like to do that, just send me an email with your pledge.  That way I'll have a little more motivation to knock out a few extra!  I'm aiming for 40 pushups in a minute, but it could be more, and it could certainly be less!

Much Love and Best Wishes to You All,

Rob

Published here with permission from the author.

Written By: G.S. Newbold, Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret.)

Marine photo / Cpl. Jennifer Pirante Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Michelle Berglin trains for an upcoming deployment at Camp Pendleton in January.

Myth #1 – “It’s about women in combat.”

No, it’s not. Women are already in combat, and are serving well and professionally. The issue should be more clearly entitled, “Women in the infantry.” And this is a decidedly different proposition.

Myth #2 – “Combat has changed” (often accompanied by “There are no front lines anymore”).

This convenient misconception requires several counters. First, any serious study of military history will reveal numerous historical examples about how successive generations (over millennia) believed that warfare had changed forever, only to find that technology may change platforms, but not its harsh essence. To hope that conflicts over the last 20 years are models of a new, antiseptic form of warfare is delusional.

The second point is that the enemy gets a vote – time, place, and style. For example, war on the Korean Peninsula would be a brutal, costly, no-holds-barred nightmare of mayhem in close combat with casualties in a week that could surpass the annual total of recent conflict.

The final point on this myth reinforces the Korea example and it bears examination — Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, where warfare was reduced to a horrific, costly, and exhausting scrap in a destroyed city between two foes that fought to the death.

The standard for ground combat unit composition should be whether social experimentation would have amplified our opportunity for success in that crucible, or diminished it. We gamble with our future security when we set standards for warfare based on the best case, instead of the harshest one.

Myth #3 – “If they pass the physical standards, why not?”

Physical standards are important, but not nearly all of the story. Napoleon – “The moral (spirit) is to the physical as three is to one.”

Unit cohesion is the essence of combat power, and while it may be convenient to dismiss human nature for political expediency, the facts are that sexual dynamics will exist and can affect morale. That may be manageable in other environments, but not in close combat.

Any study of sexual harassment statistics in this age cohort – in the military, academia, or the civilian workplace — are evidence enough that despite best efforts to by sincere leaders to control the issue, human instincts remain strong. Perceptions of favoritism or harassment will be corrosive, and cohesion will be the victim.

Myth #4 – “Standards won’t be lowered.”

This is the cruelest myth of all. The statements of the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are telling.

They essentially declare “guilty until proven innocent” on anyone attempting to maintain the standards which produced the finest fighting force in the world. There are already accommodations (note that unit cohesion won’t be a metric), there will be many more, and we will pay a bloody price for it someday.

Pity the truthful leader who attempts to hold to standards based on realistic combat factors, and tells truth to power. Most won’t, and the others won’t survive.

Myth #5 – “Opening the infantry will provide a better pathway to senior rank for the talented women.”

Not so. What will happen is that we will take very talented females with unlimited potential and change their peer norm when we inject them into the infantry.

Those who might meet the infantry physical standard will find that their peers are expected, as leaders, to far exceed it (and most of their subordinates will, as well).

So instead of advancing to a level appropriate to their potential, they may well be left out.

Myth #6 – “It’s a civil rights issue, much like the integration of the armed forces and allowing gays to serve openly.”

Those who parrot this either hope to scare honest and frank discussion, or confuse national security with utopian ideas.

In the process, they demean initiatives that were to provide equally skilled individuals the opportunity to contribute equally. In each of the other issues, lowered standards were not the consequence.

Myth #7 – “It’s just fair.”

Allow me two points.

First, this is ground warfare we’re discussing, so realism is important.

“Fair” is not part of the direct ground combat lexicon.

Direct ground combat, such as experienced in the frozen tundra of Korea, the rubble of Stalingrad, or the endless 30-day jungle patrols against a grim foe in Viet Nam, is the harshest meritocracy — with the greatest consequences — there is.

And psychology in warfare is germane – the force that is respected (and, yes, feared) has a distinct advantage.

Will women in our infantry enhance a psychological advantage, or hinder it?

Second, if it’s about fairness, why do women get a choice of whether to serve in the infantry (when men do not), and why aren’t they required to register for the draft (as men are)?

It may be that we live in a society in which honest discussion of this issue, relying on facts instead of volume, is not possible. If so, our national security will fall victim to hope instead of reality. And myths be damned.

Gregory S. Newbold served 32 years as a Marine infantryman, commanding units from platoon to the 1st Marine Division. His final assignment before retiring in 2002 was as director of operations for the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

Team AFMC,

The budgetary uncertainties currently facing the Department of Defense combined with a projected $1.8 billion shortfall in Air Force funding for overseas contingency operations, require us to take prudent steps to mitigate budget execution risks.

Based on guidance received last week from Headquarters Air Force, my intent is for Air Force Materiel Command to take immediate actions to reduce spending across all appropriations, Working Capital Funds and other reimbursable programs within AFMC's governance authority.  In line with the Air Force direction, our actions will -- to the maximum extent possible -- be reversible or recoverable and minimize impacts to core readiness programs.

These actions are necessary in order to support our DOD and our nation. However, we still have a requirement to continue the critical missions that we execute on behalf of the Air Force.  Therefore, mission critical exceptions to these actions can be approved with discretion.

Some of the key near-term actions AFMC will take to handle the uncertain budget environment ahead are outlined below.  The command will:

• Implement a temporary civilian hiring freeze for permanent, temporary, and term vacancies with exceptions for mission-critical activities and release current temporary and term employees with exceptions for mission-critical activities; there are no current near-term plans to furlough civilians
  
• Review overseas contingency operations requirements and identify potential reductions which will not impair wartime operations, such as delaying asset reconstitution and incrementally funding OCO contracts
  
• Cancel all temporary duty travel that is not mission critical, such as attendance at or hosting of conferences and symposia, staff assistance visits, and training seminars

o   Within the scope of mission-critical travel, the command will evaluate whether alternative means can be used to complete the mission (such as video teleconference, email, etc.) and will scrub requirements to reduce the number of personnel traveling, vehicles, and lodging expenses

o   If a TDY is considered mission critical, the AFMC Vice Commander or Center Commander is the final approval authority

o   Inspections such as Nuclear Surety Inspections, Nuclear Surety Staff Assistance Visits, Special Security Office management, and Inspector General intelligence deficiency inspections are mission critical and will continue

o   Mission-critical training must meet at least one of the following criteria:

-       Required by federal or state law, regulation, Executive Order, or DOD Directive

-       Meets occupational certification and/or licensing requirements as a condition of continued employment

-       Maintains critical functional or occupational competencies identified by career field managers and/or Air Force policy and instructions

• Curtail flying not directly related to readiness, such as air shows, flyovers, and familiarization rides
  
• Curtail or cancel ongoing and scheduled studies that are not Congressionally-directed or mission critical
  
• Limit supply purchases to essential fiscal 2013 consumption and stop minor purchases that are not mission critical, such as furniture, information technology refresh, and unit equipment
  
• Defer non-emergency Facility Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization projects
  
• Where practical, de-obligate or incrementally fund severable service contracts that cross the fiscal year only to Oct. 31, 2013, and defer the remainder of the contract

We don't expect these near-term reductions to solve the entire fiscal challenge facing us in the event sequestration is triggered or we receive significant topline reductions.  These near-term actions are only small steps towards absorbing the impact.  Planning is underway for the possibility of larger reductions, and further guidance will be disseminated if that occurs.

Thank you for all you do for AFMC, our Air Force, and our nation.  For this effort, as in all others, I am depending on you to stay focused on your role in executing the mission of our Command as we navigate through these uncertain times.

General Wolfenbarger

With Former Prime Minister Abhisit.

29 December 2012

On Christmas Eve, ThaiPBS television interviewed me in Bangkok.  The interview is scheduled to air on 31 December at 9:40PM Thailand time.  Our interview will be online here.

Ms. Nattha Komolvadhin of ThaiPBS requested this interview after I made a statement on Facebook saying that murder charges against former Prime Minister Abhisit are factually baseless and morally wrong.

ThaiPBS is a publicly funded media organization, widely respected for addressing social issues that sometimes discomfit the government, regardless of which political party may be in power at the time.

The Thai government uses tax money to support ThaiPBS, which in turn sometimes slams the government.  Thailand has a moral compass.

My statements that the Royal Thai Army (RTA) and Mr. Abhisit did not commit murder are supportable, though they are contentious among some Thai, and among some journalists.

Destroyed in Afghanistan during fighting (2011)

In 2010, I left Afghanistan and flew to Thailand, where I witnessed serious fighting.  Nearly 2,000 people were injured, and approximately 90 were killed.

I did not see all of the fighting.  Nobody did.  The troubles were spread too thinly over time and distance for any single person to witness all events.

Collectively, hundreds of journalists covered the fight.  In crowded downtown Bangkok, with its many skyscrapers, windows, and cameras, nothing happening on the streets could be kept secret.

This was not a remote Afghan battlefield, but a thunder dome, saturated with spectators with phones and cameras snapping and flashing by the thousands.

The Twitterverse was aflame. Citizen observers on Twitter posted some of the best and most immediate reporting.

Red Shirt protestors set up an immense armed camp in Bangkok’s central business district.  I often walked through the camp with my camera.  The police, Army, and protestors allowed complete access.  This was risky.  Firefights erupted without warning.

The RTA was initially ordered to contain Red Shirt mobs that caused many of the deaths and injuries.

After several months of violent protest and government patience, the RTA was ordered to break up the protest and to free downtown Bangkok so that people could get back to work.

The Thai work hard. The Red Shirts occupying the central business district was very disruptive.

It is unpopular in some circles to say that the Red Shirts committed murders, but it is a fact.  Never fear truth.

Many Red Shirts became angry that other Red Shirts resorted to violence.  Red Shirts denounced other Red Shirts who committed murder and arson.

There are many good and moral people among the Red Shirts who do not support crime of any sort.  They are my friends.

Iraq, 2005

Some Red Shirts brought children into their camp even though bullets were flying.  It was dishonorable to bring children into a combat zone.  Images of children killed in war are branded into my memory.

Red Shirt leadership should have ordered that children be taken home.  Press members should not issue a free pass to leaders who allow kids to be brought to combat.  Any journalist who did not report on the children is professionally flawed.

This level of sustained and violent occupation would never have been permitted in the United States.   The first time that a protestor fired an M79 grenade launcher in downtown New York City, popular opinion would have demanded that the police or the Army put them down.

Occupy Wall Street is annoying, for example, but we can live with it.  If members of Occupy Wall Street fired grenades or an RPG, a final response would have been demanded.

Waging insurrection is not a constitutionally protected activity in any country. Peaceful protesting is protected in some countries, including the United States and Thailand.

Launching grenades is over the line.  Dozens of bombings, grenade attacks, and shootings were perpetrated in Bangkok during the Red Shirt protest, including a small car bomb. In addition to the protests, a steady insurrectional campaign targeting symbolic targets was waged.

Red Shirt protestors used automatic weapons, 40mm grenade launchers, bombs, firebombs, and firework rockets, not to mention slingshots and ball bearings.

Many Red Shirts were courageous and unafraid of combat.  I greatly respect Red Shirts for their courage under fire.  Much was caught on video.  I respect them though I believe that they should not have engaged in violence.

Red Shirt instigation upset many Red Shirt sympathizers who have an honest set of problems that must be addressed by the Thai government.  The current government was elected with crucial support from the Red Shirts. Apparently the government has not yet addressed all Red Shirt complaints.

Many journalists stayed at the Dusit Thani hotel.

Before I stepped into the protest area, I asked US Special Forces veterans, and others who lived in the Kingdom for many years, where I should go to witness events from the front lines.

My advisers opined that the best position was at the famous Dusit Thani hotel.  Five stars.  The Dusit Thani was at ground zero.

They also advised not to go.  This advice came from Vietnam-era Green Beret combat veterans, and from veterans of Grenada, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Man in Black with firebombs. Shortly after I took this photo, a man was shot dead.

Despite their warnings, I went and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities in between visits to the protest site. Because I stayed at the Dusit Thani, detractors later derided my stay as a vacation.

While I was talking on the phone in my room, an RPG struck and detonated three floors above.  This was no vacation.

The Dusit Thani was perfect.  You could eat, shower, sleep, and access the Internet.  That it happened to be a five-star hotel was ironic, and bizarrely nice compared to years of living in tents, trailers, and dirt.

I have been incredibly lucky in combat.  People regularly die around me.   I have so far escaped without a scratch.

The only time that I have been shot was in front of the Dusit Thani, just as another man was shot and killed a short distance down the street.  Luckily the bullet that hit me was a ricochet, and it caused me no bleeding.  The other man was dead.

But that is not the point, which is that I was not on vacation in the middle of a battlefield where thousands of bullets were flying, and where guests kept the curtains closed because of sniper fire.

Scene of fighting a short walk from the Dusit Thani. Red Shirt battlements in the background.

That the Dusit Thani stayed open was preposterous.  In America, it is inconceivable that the police would allow hotel proprietors and customers to make their own mortal decisions.  Surely the hotel would have been closed.

The RPG shot was the final blow.  The Dusit Thani did not want a reputation as a venue where RPGs killed journalists.  The hotel closed.

I had to move, and so I took my gear to another hotel, which overlooked part of the battle area.

Staying at the Dusit Thani was the most comfortable danger that I ever experienced. I still recommend the hotel to friends.

Many correspondents go to war, but war correspondents who spend years in combat are rare. War writers like Joe Galloway are exceptional. (Photo during 2011 combat in Afghanistan.)

Most of the reporters who covered the 2010 fighting in Bangkok had never seen combat.

For those who are not familiar with military operations, and with ground fighting in particular, Soldiers look like men in green carrying guns, and when they shoot, it is loud.

Amateur observers will miss much detail, even if they have video to replay.

Artillery firing in support of combat operations, Afghanistan 2010.

There were many courageous and smart journalists at the protest site.  When the shooting picked up, most of them stuck to it.  Some moved in closer.

Photographers and videographers require the most courage.  They must be close to the action.  Writers and print journalists can see everything they need from twenty yards away in more safety.

A US Soldier is mortally wounded from combat. Afghanistan 2011.

When the Bangkok fighting was intense, I was conservative and put on my writing hat, and prayed that the photographers would not get hit.  Some did.

Combat is too familiar for me to treat every firefight as if it were the last train running.  In my world, firefights are a continuously looping train.  Sometimes I sit and watch the bloody train go round-and-round.

Photographing just after lethal bomb blast in Afghanistan, 2011

This year, 2012, is the first year since December 2004 that I have not been in a serious war.  I witnessed sustained and serious combat in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.  If fortune graces me for 48 hours, 2012 will be the first year that I did not witness war since December 2004.

American rockets strike in Afghanistan, 2011.

By 2010, having already spent much time in Thailand, I was in a good position to understand the fighting.

I do not comprehensively understand the politics behind the fighting—only Thai or specialized analysts can make that claim—but I can analyze the fighting itself.

Many of the amateurs said that my words were false.   They said that the RTA, under orders from then-Prime Minister Abhisit, committed murder.  They produced no proof to support these sensational murder allegations.

Thailand enjoys freedom of the press.   Few topics are off limits.  Pornography is off limits.

An insult to the Royal institution can get you imprisoned.  If you disparage the Royalty on Facebook while in Kansas, and months later fly to Thailand, you may be arrested and jailed.

Soldiers sizing up the battlefield in front of the Dusit Thani.

A task force in Bangkok combs the Internet for acts of lèse majesté.  I took a drive recently with one of the officers who works on that task force.  He said that offenders residing in the United States commit most violations.

If you are an American and you commit lèse majesté, the King may pardon you after some time in prison.  If you are fortunate you may be sent back to America and blacklisted.  You will not be tortured or beaten.

You will endure the same penal conditions as any other convict, which in Thailand, as anywhere, can be unpleasant.  You will be declared persona non grata, and you will not be welcome to return to the Kingdom.

His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand is an excellent man of peace, and he is revered as a grandfatherly figure here.  I could easily leave Thailand and write otherwise, but this is true.

The King is highly respected by American military and government officials.  I was invited to a private clubhouse for American military veterans, and they had a portrait of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen on the wall.

Behind closed doors, amongst themselves, the veterans of our military hold King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the highest esteem.  The King earned respect through hard work for his people.  He is beloved.

The King spent much time in the United States in his youth.  He is always welcome in America.  The King will never go thirsty when I have water.

The RTA allowed complete access to the combat zone.

Criticizing the King of Thailand is not like disparaging the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of Thailand.

It is permissible to criticize the Prime Minister of Thailand.  The Thai often do it, no matter who he or she may be.  Thai people criticize their leadership with passion and imagination.

The current Prime Minister of Thailand is a woman.  The United States has never had a female president, while Poland, Germany, the UK, and Pakistan all have had female leaders.  South Korea just elected a woman.

While the gender of the chief executive may not be a critical matter, it is clear that America does not have a patent on “democracy,” and in some ways, compared to other countries, Americans are not as free as we like to believe and advertise.

But insulting His Majesty the King is like insulting the beloved grandfather of millions of proud Thai people.  I doubt that the King himself cares about such comments, but millions of his subjects do, and passionately.

My Thai friends will defend the King with their lives.  The same way that we would protect our grandparents.  These many words are meant to underline a matter of utmost seriousness.

A woman rescues a photograph of the beloved King and Queen of Thailand. Stores had been looted and burned. Among so many valuables, she rescued the image of the King and Queen.

Aside from issues of lèse majesté, press freedoms are more liberal in Thailand than most other countries that I have seen.

People are free to write words in the Kingdom that would get them thrown in jail in Singapore, or that might start religious riots in India, or that might get them stoned to death in Pakistan, or a fatwa put on their head.

Cartoons that would cause riots in other countries are ignored or laughed at here.

Journalists are required to obtain special visas in countries such as India, Myanmar, Israel, China, and the United States.  Not Thailand.

Thailand does not fear ink.

You are free to write until your pen runs dry.

Foreign journalists without an office in the United States must apply for a special visa or risk deportation at the border.

I went to Israel without a visa and inadvertently caused a kerfuffle, but to their credit, the Israelis were good about it.

I was asked to speak at a conference in India. Hassles getting a visa led me to cancel.

India is freer than the United States in many respects, but a misplaced word can launch riots.  Indians deal with complexities that are unfamiliar to most Americans and Thai.

Yet a western journalist can read this, then drive to an airport, buy the next available ticket, and fly to Thailand.  No visa required.  No charge for Americans.

If you are in California, and you get the notion that “I will fly to Bangkok this afternoon,” you can.  No need to pack a bag.  Buy everything here.

You can land in Bangkok with nothing but your passport and a return ticket.  Airlines are required to stipulate that you have a return ticket, unless you have a long-stay visa, but in my experience Thai authorities never ask to see the ticket.  I almost never have one.

Thai authorities do not require that you declare that you are a journalist (in my case a writer), carrying the most dangerous weapon on the planet (a camera) and the second most dangerous weapon (a pen).

Not that it matters if you bring a camera.  You can purchase the latest hardware at the airport, or downtown.

You can show up with ten cameras in bags, and another camera over your shoulder, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned, “I am a journalist.   I will make Thailand look bad,” wearing a hat that says, “I hate Thailand.  I am a journalist.”

I do not recommend this action, but you can, and you would probably be admitted to the Kingdom along with all other visitors, with no hassle.

Do not try that in China, Singapore, Israel, India, or in the United States.

In Thailand, the immigration officer will stamp your passport and wave you through.

If you are smuggling drugs, you risk execution.

If not, you are free to travel anywhere, anytime, with few restrictions of any kind.

Correspondents on the battlefield in the central business district of Bangkok.

You are free to file stories night and day, describing how much you hate Thailand, and how terrible it is, and how terrible the government is.

You can focus on drug abuse, prostitution, corruption, on people who drive motorbikes without helmets or lights while talking on a cell phone, and ignore the innumerable virtues of this delightful Kingdom.

Most Thai will smile and shrug.  They have other matters of concern.

Years of work and combat are required to develop the necessary skills to become a serious war correspondent. (Afghanistan, 2011.)

Many people may not like you, but you will be free to criticize Thailand and its government until your visa expires.  Then they will renew your visa and you can continue.

If you go to the United States and are observed photographing government buildings or infrastructure, you might be arrested, even if the law permits such activity.

I was arrested in America for not telling immigration officials how much money I make.  I was handcuffed.  I never answered.  I was willing to go to jail.

They came to their senses and they released me, and I endured a painful vacation in the land of the free, and later returned to Afghanistan, where American Soldiers were trying to free the Afghan people whether they liked it or not.  Americans like to set people free so that we can ignore that we are shackled.

In Thailand, you can travel into every tiny village and photograph and video until your cameras fall apart.

Journalist hit in Bangkok. (Source of image unknown.)

In the United States, when there is an incident, law enforcement cordons off a large area.  No press members are allowed to enter.

During the protests in Thailand, the press, and tourists, were free to roam the battlefields during the middle of the fighting.  Many did.

Hundreds of journalists were there, stacked up with the Royal Thai Army during the fighting.  Bullets were flying everywhere.

The RTA ignored journalists like they were gnats.  Soldiers often smiled and shared their water.

Before I got there, a courageous Japanese journalist was shot and killed.  Many blamed the government.  But again, how?  Who did it?  It could have been anyone.

Every time someone was shot . . . which happened many times . . . some blamed the government, though I saw nothing but discipline from the RTA.

There were zero restrictions on photography, on video, or access.  Any journalist who says otherwise was either not there, or is lying.

Royal Thai Army Soldiers on standby.

If you wanted to cross between the lines you were free.  I did so many times.  That is a freedom that many Americans say that they want, but we seem eager to surrender.

In India, if you want to swim with crocodiles, the Indian Police might say, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” but then they will watch you go.  Later that day, Indian police will dutifully alert the US Embassy that you were eaten.  Indians do not protect you from yourself.  Thailand is similar.  I love it.

Personal responsibility is real here.  You are free.  All consequences are on you.

You are free to wade into a firefight or to pet crocodiles.  Do not whine when you get bitten or shot.

We say that we want freedom, but Americans do not live in freedom.  We Americans seem to spend every waking hour plotting how to shackle ourselves.  Freedom is becoming an empty word in America.

America does not want fewer laws.  Many Americans want more laws.  You could never cover fighting so freely in America.

Minimal cover. Take it where you can get it.

Hundreds of journalists covered the months of fighting.  When it came to the showdown, all of the big players were here.  CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP, AFP, New York Times.

Reporters flew in from Korea to Japan, from South America to Canada.  I saw them every day.  Some were killed.

Their work was honorable, but some of us have no patience with those who blame others after getting shot in a firefight that they volunteered to attend.

The general theme of some reporting was that Mr. Abhisit and the Royal Thai Army were on a rampage.  This was false.

The allegation does not pass a sniff test.

The RTA earned its honor.

It must be embarrassing for the hundreds of journalists, with thousands of cameras in the hands of civilians, that not a single one captured a photograph of the RTA committing an atrocity.  Yes, tense videos depicting bullets flying have been published.  That is combat.

Sometimes the press seemed to outnumber the RTA.

Hundreds of second-rank journalists were there—great journalists but with no gold medal—and they had every interest in snapping that award-winning photograph.

Bangkok was hot and humid. Bad time to be in body armor. The RTA was honorable and polite.

Dangerous work.

Both sides were shooting.  Red Shirts and Men in Black among them were videotaped firing automatic weapons.

I photographed Men in Black using firebombs.

The Men in Black were serious.  The Men in Black were not angry college boys.  They were commandos.  Confident.  Ready.  Not to be trifled with.

It is my suspicion that that the Men in Black were RTA veterans or veterans of other government agencies.  They were too good to be home-grown amateurs.  Some people claim that MiB they were former Border Patrol personnel who were personally loyal to their commander. I do not know.

One General switched sides and went to the Red Shirt camp.  I wanted to talk with him but before that chance came, he was shot in the head and killed by a sniper.  I asked Prime Minister Abhisit if he knew who did this.  He said no.

No journalists were afraid of the RTA. Soldiers were not committing atrocities. The RTA had nothing to hide. The Soldiers seemed to think that journalists were insane for walking around the battlefield like it was a park.

Some journalists were afraid of the Red Shirts, but not afraid of government personnel under Abhisit, because they knew that while Red Shirts might kill them, Abhisit would not.

The RTA would not shoot me, but I wondered about the Red Shirts.  The Men in Black surely would kill anyone that they perceived as a threat.  They were not as disciplined or as discriminating as the RTA.

The press was on the job observing the RTA, but they often gave a pass to the Red Shirts. This is not to imply that the journalist in this image did so. I do not know him.

Journalists captured video of rioters using grenade launchers.

In one fight, someone put a laser on a RTA officer and someone else used it to kill him.

I saw Red Shirts with lasers.   I told journalists that if you see a laser illuminate you or the Soldiers around you, to run, as a 40mm grenade might be inbound.

A 40mm grenade will take perhaps five seconds to get to you (depending on how quickly the shooter can aim, and the range), and the kill radius of a 40mm grenade is small.  A few seconds of running can save you.  I carried an M79 Grenade Launcher when I was in the Army and I know it well.

Journalists who ignored Red Shirt looting should be ashamed. Most Red Shirts were not looters and were embarrassed by it. But it happened. It should not be deliberately forgotten.

Most eyewitnesses to the incident say that the Men in Black did the killing.  Best friends make worst enemies.  They must be veterans.  That is my suspicion.  They were too good with their techniques and tactics to be untrained young men.

The arson was grievous and shameful.

Bangkok fighting

I did not see the Thai Army with grenade launchers.  Grenades came from the Red Shirts.  They fired them on civilians and the RTA.  This is a fact.

But to speak this fact aloud is sacrilegious.  It is a professional affront to hundreds of journalists who did not get the award-winning imagery of the RTA committing atrocities.

How can journalists, who accuse Mr. Abhisit and the RTA of murder, reconcile that hundreds of camera-toting journalists, and thousands of civilians, were completely free in the battle zone, yet nobody witnessed RTA atrocities?

World-class photographers were combing the field and nobody caught the fish.  Why?  Because it did not happen.

It was dangerous to huddle with the RTA. Red Shirts fired at them.

Prime Minister Abhisit lost reelection, so he is now the leader of the opposition in Parliament.  Recently he was charged with murder.

This is wrong.

I said and wrote that this is wrong.   Today, critics accuse me of being buddies with Mr. Abhisit.

Photos of former Prime Minister Abhisit and me talking on an airplane from Bangkok to Hat Yai have appeared on the Internet.  That was the only day that I communicated with Mr. Abhisit.

We do not email each other.  I do not know his email address.  I have never been to his home.  We have never shared a coffee together.  We never talk on the phone.  We do not communicate directly or indirectly.  Mr. Abhisit and I are not friends.  I would be honored to know him, but the fact is that we are not buddies.

Molotov cocktails in the Red Shirt camp. Think about the implications of this photograph. Who made them? For what purpose? How were they used? Those who were at the protest site know. We witnessed it.

I did not even write a dispatch about this trip.  Few people knew that I took it.  This upset some of my friends who thought that I should have written something, but Mr. Abhisit’s staff never said a foul word for the great access they afforded that day and on others, and they never criticized me for failing to write about my interview with the Prime Minister.

I did the same with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on a couple of trips, many American and British generals, and other officials at the highest levels of the government of the United States.

Down in the dirt, I went on countless combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan with units that I never mentioned.  No slight was meant.

I thank everyone who entertained me at their expense for the education that has helped inform my views.  I cannot write the truth if I do not smell it.

It upsets some folks that I enjoy access and I do not exploit it and write a major dispatch every time that I have a coffee with a General, but for me it is often background.  I intend no arrogance with that statement.  In my line of work, I talk to many people.

And so, regarding the fighting in 2010, this circles back to criticism from detractors who claim that they belong to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand.

I contacted the Club for clarification after this criticism but I was not graced with a response.

I was invited to the Club.  I was very busy, and regretted that I could not attend.  Then the criticism began.

No slight or insult was intended.  But any member of the Club who did not write about the children in the Red Shirt camp, or the firebombs, does not have a professional stature. Cherry-picking facts is dishonest.  Ignoring that children were brought to the camp is complicity.

As for Mr. Abhisit, I have no interest in defending a murderer.  I do not believe that Mr. Abhisit is a murderer.  Based on my observations, my estimate of Mr. Abhisit is that he is a man of rules.

If I thought that there was truth to the allegations of murder, I would remain silent, unless I had evidence, in which case I would speak and lay out any evidence in my possession.

Bangkok burns. Arson was dishonorable. Red Shirts did this.

Ironically, Mr. Abhisit was criticized for showing too much restraint.  His personal courage was widely demonstrated in his openness to the public.  The day that I accompanied Mr. Abhisit, he allowed normal citizens to walk up to him.  I asked his staff if this was normal.  They said yes, and that it worried them.  Mr. Abhisit is physically and morally courageous.

I have no evidence of RTA atrocities.

The Royal Thai Army conducted itself with honor during the Red Shirt protests.  Thai people should be proud to field such an Army.

The larger dispute between Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, and Multicolor Shirts is complex, and it includes big players.

Mr. Thaksin the Billionaire is the major player, and I suspect that someone close to him is behind the accusations that Mr. Abhisit is a murderer.

I have no proof of this suspicion, just as there is no proof that a man’s hand is actually in the glove at the end of his arm.

Mr. Thaksin is more powerful than I am.   He could order me killed with a gesture.  Would he do it?  Maybe.  But at least he is not a torturing Mexican drug dealer.  It would be a simple bullet.

Would Mr. Abhisit have me killed?  Never.

And so I am defending someone who is now powerless, facing murder charges, and even if Mr. Abhisit were still in charge of the Thai government, he would not have me killed.  He would ignore me.

Royal Thai Army soldiers near the protest site. They are good soldiers.

I have nothing to gain from defending Mr. Abhisit.  He has no power.  He may wrongfully go to prison for murder.

There is nothing for me to gain but pain, and the peace of conscience that I did not passively watch an innocent man go to prison, while the RTA is accused of atrocity, when I know that silence is wrong, and speaking truth is right.

Some of the most courageous reporters were women.

I have been warned that the current Thai government will punish me for writing these dangerous words.

Mr. Thaksin’s sister is the current Prime Minister.  The elementary school that she attended is just down the road from my home.  My friends went to school with her.  This is her country.  Red Shirts love her.

Mr. Thaksin’s government has not lifted a finger against me.  They have been honorable despite my words.  This is Thailand, not Iran.

Thailand can be dangerous, but mostly it is dangerous for those who bring their demons with them, or for those who do not know how to behave as guests.

Red Shirts burned this woman’s small dress shop. Why?

I live on a street where a hundred Chiang Mai police officers live.  The apartment buildings near my home are loaded with police.  They all know me.  They often say hello.  They have been kind.  Many are Red Shirts.

My home is just a short walk from the Red Shirt headquarters.  They know me.  They know where I live.  Sometimes I go to their functions.  I walk by their offices.  The Red Shirts have made no threats against me.

The Thai government has not hampered me in any way.  They renewed my visa with a smile even though I am writing and making statements that they do not like.

Amazing Thailand. There is much to learn here.

Life is short.   We should stand up for what is right.  Mr. Abhisit and the RTA did not commit murder.

The Kingdom of Thailand is a great and free country.  Thai people, including those who hate Mr. Abhisit, should not allow perversions of their judicial system.  This is wrong for such a great country as Thailand.

Charges against Mr. Abhisit should be dropped.

Long Live the King.

(Media please contact inquiries@michaelyon-online.com)

Mosul

Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn’t make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her.

The soldiers went back to that neighborhood the next day to ask what they could do. The people were very warm and welcomed us into their homes, and many kids were actually running up to say hello and to ask soldiers to shake hands.

Eventually, some insurgents must have realized we were back and started shooting at us. The American soldiers and Iraqi police started engaging the enemy and there was a running gun battle. I saw at least one IP who was shot, but he looked okay and actually smiled at me despite the big bullet hole in his leg. I smiled back.

One thing seems certain; the people in that neighborhood share our feelings about the terrorists. We are going to go back there, and if any terrorists come out, the soldiers hope to find them. Everybody is still very angry that the insurgents attacked us when the kids were around. Their day will come.

[Post Script]
The reaction to my photo of Major Bieger cradling Farah, the little girl who died in his arms, provoked a flood of messages and heartfelt responses from caring people around the world. I have spent the last several days trying to read every message, and respond to as many as possible, but the flow has finally outpaced me, much as the swiftness of a river will finally defeat even the most determined swimmer.

This morning there was a banging on my door. It was “Q,” loaded for battle, weapon in hand, wearing the military radio headphones with the microphone that wrapped around his face. Bang, Bang, Bang! Q hit my door.

“Mike! Where are you?!”
“Hold on,” I said, opening the door.
“Why aren’t you ready! Grab your gear . . . we’re going!” My worn-out boots sat empty in the corner.
“I can’t go today,” I said, glancing in the direction of my laptop.
“What?”
“Just tell them I can’t go today.”
“Okay!” And Q trotted off back to his Stryker, leaving me behind. The soldiers rolled out on their mission without me.

And now I sit here, answering a few final emails, while the men of Deuce Four patrol in Mosul. My hands may be here, but my head and heart are on the streets in the struggle. I’ve been riding the wave of interest and feedback from that photo, but I need to get back to what I seem best equipped to do–posting dispatches about what is happening here in Iraq. I will continue to read every message, and I offer my sincere thanks in advance for everyone who takes the time to send one, but, alas, with this dispatch, I must swim to shore.

Michael

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14 September 2009
Helmand Province, Afghanistan

With the war increasing, Air Force Pararescue has been crisscrossing the skies picking up casualties.

That’s the Green Zone of Helmand Province, the opium capital of the world.  Those fields are the great ATM of our enemies here.  The fertilizer used to make those fields green is the same fertilizer used to make countless bombs.

We are flying in a special U.S. Air Force Pavehawk helicopter to fetch a seriously ill British soldier.

In Iraq, many of the casevacs were done by ground forces.  In other words, if we hit a bomb or got shot, soldiers would load up the dead and wounded and rush them to the CSH (Combat Support Hospital or “cash”).  But in Afghanistan most of the fighting occurs outside the cities and far away from the base hospitals.  Rescue helicopters stationed at places like Bagram, Kandahar Airfield and Camp Bastion have been flying thousands of missions.

There are numerous helicopter rescue “services” in Afghanistan.  For instance, the British have MERTs (Medical Emergency Response Teams) that fly in a CH-47, and the U.S. Army uses Pavehawks as does the U.S. Air Force.  Special operations teams normally cover their own evacuations.

This U.S. Army rescue helicopter parked at Camp Bastion (Helmand) flies with the red cross symbol allowing the enemy to get a better aim at the helicopter.  Unfortunately, by displaying the red cross symbol, the helicopters are not allowed to carry miniguns or other large weapons.  This seems a rather questionable decision given that the Taliban and other enemies could not give a hoot about law.  It is unclear why the Army decided that a red cross provides more protection than miniguns.

These Air Force “Pedro” rescue helicopters have two miniguns each (total of four miniguns), and the PJs all carry M-4 rifles.  They do fire those weapons in combat.  In July, a helicopter swooped down during a rescue and picked up some wounded soldiers and then was shot down.  The second Air Force helicopter had to get the U.S. Army patients off the bird that had been shot down.  But there was not enough room in the second bird for the Pedro crew.  (No injuries.)  So the tiny Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopters flew out—Kiowas only seat two people and both seats were full—and some of the Pedro folks had to clip onto the skids and fly out like James Bond.

The damaged helicopter was left behind.  Bullets had hit a fuel line and caused the fuel to leak out, and so the pilot had no trouble landing, but the helicopter was now stuck in the middle of nowhere.  So after the Pedros rescued U.S. soldiers who then rescued Pedros, other soldiers flew out to rescue the Pedro helicopter.  The plan was to cut off the rotors and have a bigger helicopter use a cable to lift out the Pavehawk and fly it back to base.  But when the soldiers started using a saw on the rotors, sparks hit the fuel that had leaked and the Pavehawk burned to the ground.  The Army killed the Air Force’s helicopter.

The helicopters take hits.  On another mission in Helmand, an RPG shot through the tail but luckily it missed the transmission; if the RPG had hit the transmission, the entire crew likely would have been killed.  And so . . . those miniguns come in handy.  The gunners are great shots and can return accurate fire within seconds.

Some readers have gotten upset that I call them “Pedro,” thinking the name is secret.  The concern is welcome but not warranted in this case.  The Pedros don’t care and they even have a Pedro patch.

The Pararescue medics are often called “PJs.”  The SEALs, Delta, Rangers and Green Berets all hold the PJs in high regard.  Firstly, the PJs are among the best medics in the U.S. military (we have incredible medics—so that’s a significant statement).  Secondly, PJs go through just about any combat training available, ranging from HALO to mountaineering to scuba.  They’ve got scuba gear here at Camp Bastion and have had to use it to recover soldiers who were killed after the enemy blew their vehicle into some water.  In a different war, the Pedros would be tasked to rescue pilots who might be shot down hundreds of miles into enemy territory.

As we fly out to pick up a sick soldier, the door gunners and PJs test-fire the miniguns and M-4s.

When we get low, the PJs sit with their feet hanging out the doors so they can return fire, but up high they relax and take in the scenery.  That’s the Helmand River and part of the “Green Zone.”

The Pedro commander, Major Mathew Wenthe, said that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had issued a directive that all casualties be evacuated and arrive at the hospital within one hour of the call.  Pedros intend to fulfill that directive.

The Pedro crews at Bastion have three helicopters but they only take two on missions.  Major Wenthe gave high credit to the mechanics who are constantly changing out parts, up to and including seven engines in the last few months.  The birds are ready, and that’s the first step.

There are two Pedro shifts who work 12 hours on, 12 hours off, with no days off during the tour.  The first shift starts at 0200 and runs to 1400 and the second shift takes 1400 to 0200.

Inside the TOC (Tactical Operations Center; the HQ), Pedro has a big board where reports from around Helmand Province scroll down.  If a British unit gets into a firefight, for instance, Pedro knows about the firefight within probably a minute because the messages are relayed to TOCs that need to know.  At least one person is always watching that screen, and so you might hear a pilot say, “The Marines are in contact near such and such.”  Or, “The Brits just hit an IED near Sangin.”

The casualties are classified as Category A, Cat B, or Cat C.  Cat A basically means the soldier is probably going to die, lose a limb, or lose his eyesight if not quickly treated.  Cat B is more like someone who’s gotten shot in the foot.  It’s a big deal, but not immediately life-threatening. Cat C might be some kind of non-life-threatening illness or a broken finger.

When the Pedro crews see injuries scroll down, they rush out to the helicopters like Batman and Robin heading to the Batmobile.  Really, you’ve got to get out of the way or they will knock you down.  Within a few minutes the rotors are spinning but the Pedros actually have not yet been tasked to go.  The British-run JHTF (Joint Helicopter Task Force) is watching the same information but they also have other assets that can be sent, such as the U.S. Army or the British MERT (Medical Emergency Response Team) in the CH-47.  The Pedros are always the first who are ready to go, but it might make sense for JHTF to send MERT because MERT is a bigger helicopter and so it flies faster than Pavehawks.  Plus, the doctor on the MERT can actually pump blood into patients, because when the patient gets shot or blown up, medics on the scene radio the blood types, and the MERT crew can actually fly out with the right blood.  Pedros don’t push blood but do start IVs.  However . . . the CH-47 is a big helicopter and is easier to shoot down, and so if the landing zone is going to be tight or under fire, it might be better to send Pedro. Yet much of Afghanistan is high and hot and the CH-47 can fly in thinner air than can Pavehawks.

While the JHTF makes a decision, Pedro is waiting with rotors spinning and all they need to hear is “Go Pedro.”  Thirty seconds later they are gone.  (The British MERT CH-47 flies faster, but it’s slower to start.)

Every day is a “National Geographic” day.  Afghanistan is incredible.

As we approach the LZ, the PJs pull on rubber gloves; the helicopter is subject to getting bloody.

This rotation of Pedros had done just under 400 missions in three months.  Similar crews in Iraq might do half a dozen missions in the same period.

These PJs have treated hundreds of patients and gone into dangerous areas every day.

Typical compound.

Afghan interstate system.

The Afghans call this the Dasht-i-Margo (Desert of Death).

The roads of nowhere.

Lone vehicle in the Desert of Death.

Some compounds are miles from the nearest neighbor, yet they still have walls.  Afghanistan is the land of a million Alamos.

When Afghans build a home, they start by building a wall.  When the wall is finished, they start on the home.

The pilots swoop in for the patient.  There is only one thing that British soldiers love more than mail and that’s Pedro.  When I told British soldiers from 2 Rifles that Pedro was going to take me, many British soldiers asked me to say “thank yous” to the Pedros.  The Pedros are a great morale booster because we know when we take casualties, Pedro is coming with miniguns and incredible medics.  When other helicopters are grounded by bad weather, Pedro goes.  When bullets are flying, Pedro comes in with miniguns blazing.  They also rescue Danish, Americans, and others, including contractors and Afghan civilians sometimes.

We picked up a British patient from 2 Rifles, one of my favorite infantry units.  The British are more sensitive about casualties than Americans (many Americans don’t care about photos if they are wounded, though some do).  Although I was not embedded with the Brits and so do not have to follow British rules, I respect the soldiers.

And so, without the patient’s consent (which was hard to get because he was in pain and the helicopter was loud and the PJs were working), these photos will not show his face.

The problem was apparently appendicitis.  The PJs went to work and at one point a PJ smacked the bottom of the patient’s right boot.  The PJs said that if his appendix is bad, smacking the bottom of his right foot should cause sharp pain in his abdomen.  And true enough, when the medic smacked his boot, the soldier winced in pain.

As we are flying back, vitals and other information are being transmitted back to Camp Bastion so that when we land, the right doctors and nurses will be ready.

The medical evacuation system is excellent.  Our folks work hand in glove with British and Danish back at the hospital.

During the flight, the PJs also put earplugs in the patient so that his head isn’t rattling from this very loud helicopter.  When patients are brought aboard, the PJs slide the doors shut.

This was an easy mission, but at other times there will be multiple amputations and KIAs and so the helicopters can get full.

British fire crews rush to grab patients.

The hospital is about 30 seconds away from the LZ and the PJs usually go inside so that they can do a handoff to the doctors.  Then we fly back to the runway about half a mile away, refuel, and get ready for the next call.

The motto of Pararescue: “That Others May Live.”  And they mean it.

Don’t mess with the miniguns . . .

The next mission took us to a Special Forces base where an ANA soldier had somehow managed to get shot in both feet.  It was lucky for him that he was with Special Forces; the Green Beret medics also are tops.  I’ve seen the Green Beret medics at work on countless occasions.  It’s bad to get shot, but if you must, it’s best to happen in the presence of Green Berets and to get picked up by Pedros.

Some Green Berets helped load the patient and then went back to whatever it is that Green Berets do out here.

The medic(s) on the scene already have prepped the patient, so the PJs don’t have to bandage him up other than plugging his ears, taking vitals and other tasks.

The pilots flew very hard at times.

On the way back with the ANA soldier who managed to get shot in both feet, another call came so we diverted to get two more patients.

Americans lived down here before the Soviet invasion and built much of the irrigation networks.  The poppy has already been harvested this year and other crops are in the fields.

The other Pedro bird flies in to get the two patients.

We fly low and make hard turns.  The PJ has to crane his neck back just to see the horizon.

In combat, the Pedro can land and get a patient loaded in about thirty seconds.

The patients are loaded and off we go.  One guy had a tooth problem, and the other got bitten by a bat.

The last mission.  Just under 400 on this tour, and I had the honor of going along.  We’ll never know how many lives the Pedro crews saved this year in Afghanistan, but it was a lot.  A book could be written about their tour, but alas, this is likely about all the recognition they will ever get.  The two crews that I did missions with were:

Pedro 35
Maj Mathew Wenthe
1Lt Josh Roberts
CMSgt Rick Nowaski
TSgt Christopher Gabor
Capt Dave Depiazza
TSgt Tom Pearce
SrA Eric Mathieson

Pedro 36
Maj Mitzi Egger
Capt Adam Tucci
MSgt James Patterson
SrA Adrian Jarrin
SSgt Joe Signor
SrA Anthony Daroste
SrA Alejandro Serrano

The crews assembled and asked me to make their photo, but . . .

Just as they were starting to line up for the photo, a call came in and the helicopters flew away.

Mosul, Iraq

Combat comes unexpectedly, even in war.

On Monday, while conducting operations in west Mosul, a voice came over the radio saying troops from our brother unit, the 3-21, were fighting with the enemy in east Mosul on the opposite side of the Tigris River. Moments later, SSG Will Shockley relayed word to us that an American soldier was dead. We began searching for the shooters near one of the bridges on our side of the Tigris, but they got away. Jose L. Ruiz was killed in action.

Although the situation in Mosul is better, our troops still fight here every day. This may not be the war some folks had in mind a few years ago. But once the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress.

The only mission I’ve seen unfold close to what was planned was a B Company raid a few months back. It actually went so close to perfect that we could hardly believe it. The sole glitch occurred when a Stryker hit an IED, but since nobody was hurt, we just continued the mission. In retrospect, it’s hard to imagine why I didn’t write about it. But times are busy, and, apart from it going nearly perfectly according to plan, it just seemed like any other old raid.

I had been talking with Captain Matt McGrew about the “The Battle for Mosul IV” dispatch, intending to spend the night with him and some Iraqi troops at one of their combat outposts, to glean additional insight, but the on-going battles in Mosul kept getting in the way. On the night before the planned ride-along, the obstacle was a big and sudden push of operations and tasks bundled in a “surge operation.” Operation Lancer Fury was launched without notice even to the unit commanders here.

When I’d sat in on the “warning order” (notice of impending operations) for Lancer Fury last week, the plan was so cleverly contrived that the leadership at Deuce Four had to grudgingly acknowledge its excellence, even though the idea had originated from higher-up. In every military unit I have seen, there is a prevailing perception that good ideas trickle down from the top about as often as water flows uphill, so Lancer Fury apparently was a wunder-plan.

As a “surge” operation, Lancer Fury is sort of a crocodile hunt, where our people do things to make the crocodiles come out, trying to flush them into predictable directions, or make them take certain actions. And when they do, we nail them. The combat portion of the Surge amounted to a sophisticated “area ambush” that would unfold over the period of about one week.

This Surge is a complicated piece of work, with multidimensional variables and multifarious moving parts. Those parts range literally from boots on our feet to satellites zipping overhead. So, of course, glitches and snags started occurring the first day. Among other things, key gear failed; but overall, the Surge was going well. A few terrorists had already been caught in the first 24 hours.

Thursday night, a revised plan had me following some Deuce Four soldiers on a midnight raid. They had night vision gear, so they moved quickly. I had only moonlight, so I nearly broke my leg keeping up. Sleeking around Mosul under moonlight, we prowled through the pale glow until we came upon a pond near a farmhouse. Recon platoon had already raided one house and snagged some suspects, then crept away in the darkness to another target close by.

Five soldiers from Recon—Holt, Ferguson, Yates, Welch and Ross—were moving through moon-cast shadows when an Iraqi man came out from a farmhouse, his AK-47 rifle hanging by his side. Suddenly encircled by the rifles, lights and lasers of four soldiers, the man was quickly disarmed. A fifth soldier radioed for the interpreter and together they sorted out that he was a farmer who thought the soldiers were thieves skulking around his property. Recon returned the man his rifle, and started making their way back, umbral and silent across the ploughed fields.

During a halt in some trees at the edge of the field, I overheard the voice of LTC Kurilla, the commander of the Deuce Four battalion, quietly praising one of the soldiers for showing discipline in not shooting the farmer. After loading the other suspects onto Strykers, we returned to base, where I fell, exhausted, at about 3 AM Friday morning.

The Surge continued while I slept.

Alpha Company had deployed during the early hours and was conducting operations around Yarmook Traffic Circle. SGT Daniel Lama, who is as much respected as he is liked, was pulling security in an air guard position of his Stryker, when a bullet flew straight at his neck, striking him. As he collapsed into the Stryker, his body clenched in seizure, fingers frozen, arms and legs rigid.

I seldom get letters in Iraq, but waiting for me in the mailroom while I slept was a card. The return address sticker, an American flag on it, was from Jefferson, Pennsylvania. The postage stamp had an American flag waving. The card inside had a picture of an American flag for its cover. The sweet and heartfelt message inside ended with-

Please tell our soldiers we care so much for them. -Dan and Connie Lama.

I was still asleep when medics brought their son Daniel to the Combat Support Hospital, or “Cash.” It’s a familiar place for Deuce Four soldiers, who’ve seen some of the most sustained and intense urban combat of this war, receiving over 150 Purple Hearts in the process.

Bap bap bap! on my door. I jumped up and there was CSM Robert Prosser, the top enlisted soldier at Deuce Four. Prosser is always professional, always direct: “Sergeant Lama’s been shot. We’re rolling in ten minutes,” he said.

“I’ll be there in ten,” I answered, instantly awake.

Within minutes, I was running out my room, still pulling zips and fastening buttons, when I came sweating into the TOC. LTC Kurilla was there asking a soldier for the latest report on Sergeant Lama, now in surgery.

When a soldier is killed or wounded, the Department of Army calls the loved ones, and despite their attempts to be sympathetic, the nature of the calls has a way of shocking the families. There is just no easy way to say, “Your son got shot today.” And so, according to men here, the calls sound something like this: “We are sorry to inform you that your son has been shot in Mosul. He’s stable, but that’s all we know at this time.”

LTC Kurilla likes to call before the Army gets a chance, to tell parents and loved ones the true circumstances. Kurilla is direct, but at least people know they are getting an accurate account.

We loaded the Strykers and drove down to the Cash, and there was Chaplain Wilson, who might be the most popular man on base. Everybody loves him. Often when Chaplain Wilson sees me, he will say, “Good morning Michael. How are you today?” But sometimes he asks me, “Are you okay?” and I think, Do I look stressed?

“Of course I feel okay Chaplain Wilson! Don’t I look okay?”

He just laughs, “Yes, Michael, you look fine. Just checking.” But secretly, every time he asks, I feel a notch better.

Chaplain Wilson came out from the hospital smiling and explained that Daniel (Sergeant Lama) was fine. The seizure was just a natural reaction to getting shot in the neck. It was just a flesh wound. As if offering proof, Chaplain Wilson said: “When they rolled Daniel over, the doctor stuck his finger in Daniel’s butt to check his prostate, and Daniel said, ‘Hey! What are you doing?!’” Everybody laughed.

I changed the subject by snapping a photo of CSM Prosser while LTC Kurilla got Mrs. Lama on the Iridium satellite phone. I heard the commander telling this soldier’s mother that her son was fine. Daniel just had some soft tissue damage, nothing major. Kurilla told her that he and some other soldiers were at the hospital now with Daniel, who was still too groggy to talk. “Really, Daniel’s okay, and don’t worry about it when the Army calls you.”

We loaded the Strykers and headed downtown.

Some Strykers were scouting for the shooters, while others were working details at Yarmook Traffic Circle. Major Craig Triscari from the 1-17th Infantry from Alaska was with Major Mike Lawrence, “Q,” and other soldiers, when he noticed a car with its hood up. The 1-17th will relieve the 1-24th soon, so Triscari has been conducting operations with Deuce Four. The vehicle struck Triscari as odd: it hadn’t been there a few minutes earlier.

Automatic weapons fire started coming from at least two places. Bullets were kicking up the dust, and we got a radio call that troops were in contact at Yarmook Traffic Circle. Sitting inside the Stryker with LTC Kurilla and me were two new faces. A young 2nd lieutenant who had only been in Iraq three weeks, and hadn’t seen any real combat; and a young specialist, who, per chance, is one of the few Deuce Four soldiers who is not a seasoned veteran, though he has seen some combat. Also in the Stryker was “AH,” the interpreter, whose courage under fire I had seen before. But the more battle weathered fighters were not there.

Chris Espindola, the Commander’s radio operator, a respected and experienced fighter, was down in Baghdad at the Iraqi Criminal Court testifying against two terrorists caught by Deuce Four months earlier. Like the card in the mailroom, the circumstances behind their capture were more germane to the events about to unfold than anyone might have guessed at the time.

Kurilla’s reluctance to allow anyone outside Deuce Four ride with his soldiers - including writers - is well known. Partly because of writers, people hearing about Deuce Four in the news might think of Mosul as some kind of thrill ride where everything will end okay after a few hairpin turns. This is not true.

Newcomers, even soldiers, unaccustomed to this level of hostility, can only burden the men with added danger. So Kurilla makes sure they can be trusted by mentoring new officers and having them spend three weeks with him before they are allowed to lead men in this unit.

Some months back, a new lieutenant named Brian Flynn was riding with the Kurilla for his first three weeks, when Kurilla spotted three men walking adjacent to where Major Mark Bieger and his Stryker had been hit with a car bomb a week prior. The three men looked suspicious to Kurilla, whose legendary sense about people is so keen that his soldiers call it the “Deuce Sixth-Sense.” His read on people and situations is so uncanny it borders the bizarre.

That day, Kurilla sensed “wrong” and told his soldiers to check the three men. As the Stryker dropped its ramp, one of the terrorists pulled a pistol from under his shirt. Mark Bieger was overwatching from another Stryker and shot the man with the first two bullets, dropping him to his knees.

LT Flynn was first out of the Stryker, and both he and the airguard CPT Westphal, saw the pistol at the same time and also shot the man. The other suspects started running. But all Kurilla saw was LT Flynn stepping off the ramp, and then there was a lot of shooting. Kurilla yelled FLYNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! and was nearly diving to stop Flynn from shooting, thinking the new lieutenant had lost his mind and was shooting a man just for running from Coalition forces. Soldiers can’t just shoot anyone who runs.

Chris Espindola also shot the man. Amazingly, despite being hit by four M4’s from multiple directions, the man still lived a few minutes. Soldiers outran and tackled his two associates when they made a run.

During their interrogation on base, both admitted to being Jihadists. One was training to be a sniper, while the other was training for different combat missions. They also admitted that the terrorist who was shot down was their cell leader, who had been training them for three months. They were on a recon of American forces when Kurilla sensed their intent.

The cell leader had a blood-stained “death note” in his pocket stating he was a true Mujahadeen and wanted to die fighting the Americans. He got his wish; and now, Chris Espindola, Kurilla’s radio man, was down in Baghdad testifying against the two surviving co-conspirators. Despite their sworn confessions, Kurilla was left with a young radio operator with little trigger-time.

Flynn had now been a platoon leader for six months, but today Kurilla had another 2nd lieutenant who was being mentored before he became a platoon leader. Our Stryker did not contain the normal fighters that I saw with LTC Kurilla, but we also had a section (two squads) of infantrymen in Strykers from Alpha Company. This section was led by SSG Konkol.

We were searching the area for the source of that automatic weapons fire when Kurilla spotted three men in a black Opel and his sixth sense kicked. When Kurilla keyed in on them, he pointed his rifle at the car and signaled them to get out. The driver tucked his head and gunned the gas. The chase was on.

Strykers are fast, but Opels are faster. We were roaring through little streets and along roads, horn blaring, cars zipping off the sides, the steady chatter of multiple radio channels colliding inside the Stryker. A Kiowa helicopter pilot radioed that he spotted the car. As the chase continued, the Kiowa pilot said, “It’s going about 105 mph.”

How can the pilot know it’s going 105 mph? I thought.

As if in reply, the pilot radioed that the Opel was outrunning his helicopter. Captain Jeff VanAntwerp came on the radio net saying he was moving his section into position to intercept the Opel.

“Watch out for that kid!” yelled Kurilla over the intercom to our driver as we made a hard turn, managing to avoid hitting the child.

Opels may be faster than Kiowas on straight-a-ways, but when the car made turns, the helicopter quickly caught up. Kurilla ordered the Kiowa to fire a warning shot, then quickly authorized the Kiowa to disable the vehicle.

Kiowas are small, carrying just two people; they fly so low the two flying soldiers are practically infantrymen. The pilot swooped low and the “co-pilot” aimed his rifle at the Opel, firing three shots and blowing out the back window. The Kiowa swooped and banked hard in front of the car, firing three more shots through the front hood, the universal sign for “stop.”

The car chase ended, but the men fled on foot up an alley. We approached in the Strykers and I heard Kurilla say on the radio, “Shots fired!” as he ducked for a moment then popped back up in the hatch. Kurilla continued, “Trail section clear the car and clear south to north! I’m going to block the back door on the north side!”

About fifteen seconds later our ramp dropped. We ran into combat.

Folks who haven’t done much urban fighting might take issue with the wild chases, and they might say that people should always “stack up” and do things this or that way, but men in Delta Force, SEALs and the like, all know that when chasing wild men into the labyrinth, soldiers enter the land of confusion. If soldiers don’t go fast, the bad guys simply get away. Just a few minutes ago, these three guys were going “105 miles per hour,” and outrunning a helicopter.

There were shops, alleys, doorways, windows.

The soldiers with LTC Kurilla were searching fast, weapons at the ready, and they quickly flex-cuffed two men. But these were not the right guys. Meanwhile, SSG Konkol’s men were clearing toward us, leaving the three bad guys boxed, but free.

Shots were fired behind us but around a corner to the left.

Both the young 2nd lieutenant and the young specialist were inside a shop when a close-quarters firefight broke out, and they ran outside. Not knowing how many men they were fighting, they wanted backup. LTC Kurilla began running in the direction of the shooting. He passed by me and I chased, Kurilla leading the way.

There was a quick and heavy volume of fire. And then LTC Kurilla was shot.

Kurilla was running when he was shot, but he didn’t seem to miss a stride; he did a crazy judo roll and came up shooting.

BamBamBamBam! Bullets were hitting all around Kurilla. The young 2nd lieutenant and specialist were the only two soldiers near. Neither had real combat experience. “AH” had no weapon. I had a camera.

Seconds count.

Kurilla, though down and unable to move, was fighting and firing, yelling at the two young soldiers to get in there; but they hesitated. BamBamBamBam!

Kurilla was in the open, but his judo roll had left him slightly to the side of the shop. I screamed to the young soldiers, “Throw a grenade in there!” but they were not attacking.

“Throw a grenade in there!” They did not attack.

“Give me a grenade!” They didn’t have grenades.

“Erik! Do you need me to come get you!” I shouted. But he said “No.” (Thank God; running in front of the shop might have proved fatal.)

“What’s wrong with you!?” I yelled above the shooting.

“I’m hit three times! I’m shot three times!”

Amazingly, he was right. One bullet smashed through his femur, snapping his leg. His other leg was hit and so was an arm.

With his leg mangled, Kurilla pointed and fired his rifle into the doorway, yelling instructions to the soldiers about how to get in there. But they were not attacking. This was not the Deuce Four I know. The other Deuce Four soldiers would have killed every man in that room in about five seconds. But these two soldiers didn’t have the combat experience to grasp the power of momentum.

This was happening in seconds. Several times I nearly ran over to Kurilla, but hesitated every time. Kurilla was, after all, still fighting. And I was afraid to run in front of the shop, especially so unarmed.

And then help arrived in the form of one man: CSM Prosser.

Prosser ran around the corner, passed the two young soldiers who were crouched low, then by me and right to the shop, where he started firing at men inside.

A man came forward, trying to shoot Kurilla with a pistol, apparently realizing his only escape was by fighting his way out, or dying in the process. Kurilla was aiming at the doorway waiting for him to come out. Had Prosser not come at that precise moment, who knows what the outcome might have been.

Prosser shot the man at least four times with his M4 rifle. But the American M4 rifles are weak - after Prosser landed three nearly point blank shots in the man’s abdomen, splattering a testicle with a fourth, the man just staggered back, regrouped and tried to shoot Prosser.

Then Prosser’s M4 went “black” (no more bullets). A shooter inside was also having problems with his pistol, but there was no time to reload. Prosser threw down his empty M4, ran into the shop and tackled the man.

Though I have the photo, I do not remember the moment that Prosser went “black” and ran into the shop. Apparently I turned my head, but kept my finger on the shutter button. When I looked back again, I saw the very bloody leg of CSM Prosser inside the shop. It was not moving. He appeared to be shot down and dead.

I looked back at the two soldiers who were with me outside, and screamed what amounted to “Attack Attack Attack!” I stood up and was yelling at them. Actually, what I shouted was an unprintable string of curses, while Kurilla was also yelling at them to get in there, his M4 trained on the entrance. But the guys were not attacking.

I saw Prosser’s M4 on the ground, Where did that come from?

I picked up Prosser’s M4. It was empty. I saw only Prosser’s bloody leg lying still, just inside the darkened doorway, because most of his body was hidden behind a stack of sheet metal.

“Give me some ammo! Give me a magazine!” I yelled, and the young 2nd lieutenant handed over a full 30-round magazine. I jacked it in, released the bolt and hit the forward assist. I had only one magazine, so checked that the selector was on semi-automatic.

I ran back to the corner of the shop and looked at LTC Kurilla who was bleeding, and saw CSM Prosser’s extremely bloody leg inside the shop, the rest of him was still obscured from view. I was going to run into the shop and shoot every man with a gun. And I was scared to death.

What I didn’t realize was at that same moment four soldiers from Alpha Company 2nd Platoon were arriving on scene, just in time to see me about to go into the store. SSG Gregory Konkol, SGT Jim Lewis, and specialists Niccola DeVereaux and Christopher Muse where right there, behind me, but I didn’t see them.

Reaching around the corner, I fired three shots into the shop. The third bullet pierced a propane canister, which jumped up in the air and began spinning violently. It came straight at my head but somehow missed, flying out of the shop as a high-pressure jet of propane hit me in the face. The goggles saved my eyes. I gulped in deeply.

In the tiniest fraction of a second, somehow my mind actually registered Propane . . . FIREBALL! as it bounced on the ground where it spun furiously, creating an explosive cloud of gas and dust, just waiting for someone to fire a weapon.

I scrambled back, got up and ran a few yards, afraid that Kurilla was going to burn up if there was a fire. The soldiers from Alpha Company were heading toward him when LTC Kurilla yelled out that he was okay, but that CSM Prosser was still in the shop. The Alpha Company soldiers ran through the propane and dust cloud and swarmed the shop.

When the bullet hit that canister, Prosser—who I thought might be dead because of all the blood on his leg—was actually fighting hand-to-hand on the ground. Wrapped in a ground fight, Prosser could not pull out his service pistol strapped on his right leg, or get to his knife on his left, because the terrorist—who turned out to be a serious terrorist—had grabbed Prosser’s helmet and pulled it over his eyes and twisted it.

Prosser had beaten the terrorist in the head three times with his fist and was gripping his throat, choking him. But Prosser’s gloves were slippery with blood so he couldn’t hold on well. At the same time, the terrorist was trying to bite Prosser’s wrist, but instead he bit onto the face of Prosser’s watch. (Prosser wears his watch with the face turned inward.) The terrorist had a mouthful of watch but he somehow also managed to punch Prosser in the face. When I shot the propane canister, Prosser had nearly strangled the guy, but my shots made Prosser think bad guys were coming, so he released the terrorist’s throat and snatched out the pistol from his holster, just as SSG Konkol, Lewis, DeVereaux and Muse swarmed the shop. But the shots and the propane fiasco also had brought the terrorist back to life, so Prosser quickly reholstered his pistol and subdued him by smashing his face into the concrete.

The combat drama was ended, so I started snapping photos again.

When Recon platoon showed up about a minute later, SFC Bowman asked LTC Kurilla to lie down. But Kurilla was ordering people to put out security, and directing action this way and that. When the very experienced medic, Specialist Munoz, put morphine into Kurilla, the commander still kept giving orders, even telling Munoz how to do his job. So SFC Bowman told Munoz to give Kurilla another morphine, and finally Kurilla settled down, and stopped giving orders long enough for them to haul him and the terrorist away to the Combat Support Hospital. The same facility where Daniel Lama was recovering from the earlier gunshot wound to the neck.

Combat Support Hospital

The Surge operation continued as we returned to base. The Commander and the terrorist were both being prepped for surgery, when LTC Kurilla said, “Tell Major Bieger to call my wife so she doesn’t get a call from the Army first.” But someone gave the Commander a cell phone, and I heard Kurilla talking to his wife, Mary Paige, saying something like, “Honey, there has been a little shooting here. I got hit and there was some minor soft tissue damage.” The X-ray on the board nearby showed his femur snapped in half. “I’ll be fine. Just some minor stuff.” That poor woman.

The doctors rolled LTC Kurilla and the terrorist into OR and our surgeons operated on both at the same time. The terrorist turned out to be one Khalid Jasim Nohe, who had first been captured by US forces (2-8 FA) on 21 December, the same day a large bomb exploded in the dining facility on this base and killed 22 people.

That December day, Khalid Jasim Nohe and two compatriots tried to evade US soldiers from 2-8 FA, but the soldiers managed to stop the fleeing car. Then one of the suspects tried to wrestle a weapon from a soldier before all three were detained. They were armed with a sniper rifle, an AK, pistols, a silencer, explosives and other weapons, and had in their possession photographs of US bases, including a map of this base.

That was in December.

About two weeks ago, word came that Nohe’s case had been dismissed by a judge on 7 August. The Coalition was livid. According to American officers, solid cases are continually dismissed without apparent cause. Whatever the reason, the result was that less than two weeks after his release from Abu Ghraib, Nohe was back in Mosul shooting at American soldiers.

LTC Kurilla repeatedly told me of - and I repeatedly wrote about - terrorists who get released only to cause more trouble. Kurilla talked about it almost daily. Apparently, the vigor of his protests had made him an opponent of some in the Army’s Detention Facilities chain of command, but had otherwise not changed the policy. And now Kurilla lay shot and in surgery in the same operating room with one of the catch-and-release-terrorists he and other soldiers had been warning everyone about.

When Kurilla woke in recovery a few hours after surgery, he called CSM Prosser and asked for a Bible and the book: Gates of Fire. Kurilla gives a copy of Gates of Fire to every new officer and orders them to read it. He had given me a copy and told me to read it. In my book, there is a marked passage, which I thought rather flowery. But I have it beside me on the table by the map of Iraq.

“I would be the one. The one to go back and speak. A pain beyond all previous now seized me. Sweet life itself, even the desperately sought chance to tell the tale, suddenly seemed unendurable alongside the pain of having to take leave of these whom I had come so to love.”

A short time after Kurilla gave me the book, following the death of one of his soldiers, he said to me, “I want you to write about my men. You are the only one who might understand,” the passage registered in my mind.

I asked CSM Prosser if I could go with him to see the Commander. Carrying both books, we drove to the Cash. Major Mark Bieger arrived alongside Kurilla’s hospital bed, paying respect. After spending some time with the Commander, CSM Prosser and I drove back to the unit.

The Deuce Four

The truest test of leadership happens when the Commander is no longer there. Kurilla’s men were taking down and boxing up his photos of his wife and children, and his Minnesota Vikings flag, when they decided to keep the flag so everyone could autograph it. It wasn’t long before there was no room left to sign, but I found a place to scratch. I wanted my name on that flag.

The place suddenly felt hollowed-out.

When I came back into the TOC, Major Michael Lawrence - who I often challenge to pull-up contests, and who so far has beat me (barely) every time - looked me square and professionally, in the direct way of a military leader and asked, “Mike, did you pick up a weapon today?”
“I did.”
“Did you fire that weapon?”
“I did.”
“If you pick up another weapon, you are out of here the next day. Understood?”
“Understand.”
“We still have to discuss what happened today.”

Writers are not permitted to fight. I asked SFC Bowman to look at the photos and hear what happened. Erik Kurilla and CSM Prosser were witness, but I did not want the men of Deuce Four who were not there to think I had picked up a weapon without just cause. I approached SFC Bowman specifically, because he is fair, and is respected by the officers and men. Bowman would listen with an open mind. While looking at the photos, Bowman said, “Mike, it’s simple. Were you in fear for your life or the lives of others?”

“Thank you Sergeant Bowman,” I said.

I walked back to the TOC and on the way, Chaplain Wilson said, “Hello Michael. Are you feeling all right?”

“Yes Chaplain Wilson!” Why does he always ask that? Do I look stressed? But suddenly, I felt much better. Chaplain Wilson might be the only man in the universe with a chance of getting me into the chapel of my own free will, but I have resisted so far.

Only a few hours had passed since Daniel Lama and the Commander were shot. It was around 9 PM when I heard Captain Matt McGrew was going to see Kurilla. I asked to come along. We entered the hospital, and saw that Erik Kurilla’s bed was beside Daniel Lama’s. Kurilla went from asleep to wide awake in about a quarter-second, said “hello” and asked us to sit down. After some conversation, the Commander looked over at the next bed and asked, “How are you doing SGT Lama?”

“Great, sir.”

“Good,” the Commander said, “You are my new PSD.” [Personal Security Detachment: Bodyguard.]

Daniel Lama smiled, got out of bed and I shot a photo of him reporting for his “new duty.”

It was near 10 PM when the airplane that would start their journey back to America landed outside, its engines rumbling the hospital floor. The terrorist who shot Kurilla, and who was now a eunuch in a nearby bed, might well have been the same terrorist who, after being released, shot Lama and Thompson and others. Kurilla could see Khalid Jasim Nohe, but made no comment.

As Captain McGrew and I drove through the dusty darkness back to the Deuce Four, the Commander and SGT Lama, along with other wounded and dead soldiers from around Iraq, began their journey home.

The next day, Iraqi Army and Police commanders were in a fury that LTC Kurilla had been shot. Some blamed his men, while others blamed the terrorists, although blame alone could not compete with disbelief. Kurilla had gone on missions every single day for almost a year. Talking with people downtown. Interfacing with shop owners. Conferencing with doctors. Drinking tea with Iraqi citizens in their homes. Meeting proud mothers with new babies. It’s important to interact and take the pulse of a city in a war where there is no “behind the lines,” no safe areas. It’s even dangerous on the bases here.

In order for leaders of Kurilla’s rank to know the pulse of the Iraqi people, they must make direct contact. There’s a risk in that. But it’s men like Kurilla who can make this work. Even and especially in places like Mosul, where it takes a special penchant for fighting. A passion for the cause of freedom. A true and abiding understanding of both its value and its costs. An unwavering conviction that, in the end, we will win.

Make no mistake about Kurilla - he’s a warrior, always at the front of the charge. But it’s that battle-hardened bravery that makes him the kind of leader that Americans admire and Iraqis respect. Like the soldiers of Deuce Four, Iraqis have seen too much war to believe in fairy tales. They know true warriors bleed.

Iraqi Army and Police officers see many Americans as too soft, especially when it comes to dealing with terrorists. The Iraqis who seethe over the shooting of Kurilla know that the cunning fury of Jihadists is congenite. Three months of air-conditioned reflection will not transform terrorists into citizens.

Over lunch with Chaplain Wilson and our two battalion surgeons, Major Brown and Captain Warr, there was much discussion about the “ethics” of war, and contention about why we afford top-notch medical treatment to terrorists. The treatment terrorists get here is better and more expensive than what many Americans or Europeans can get.

“That’s the difference between the terrorists and us,” Chaplain Wilson kept saying. “Don’t you understand? That’s the difference.”