Michael's Dispatches
06 May 2013
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
06 May 2013
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.
Read more: Fraud Surrounding MIA Green Beret John Hartley Robertson
09 April 2013
Crystal clear
A good friend—who is a young former Marine Captain and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan—was taking a break from grad school when he headed to Jamaica. I emailed asking how his vacation went. His answer…is a trip. My friend's letter has been edited so that it would make sense and provide context for a general readership.
(Side note: it is possible that a major war will soon break out on the Korean Peninsula. If major combat begins, I will head over. Seoul is a five-hour direct flight from Chiang Mai. I am checking my gear today. If it stays to a low rumble, I will watch from the bleachers in Chiang Mai.)
We begin:
Mike,
Jamaica was something. I have lived overseas in challenging countries for over 20 years. I am American, but was raised overseas, including in such exotic locations as Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
When I became a Marine officer, they sent me to Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand, and elsewhere, where I served up to rank of Captain before heading to graduate school. Before and between all this, I have backpacked or traveled to dozens of countries and locations such as Sri Lanka’s cultural triangle, northern Laos, eastern Costa Rica, Borneo, and Penang, trying to soak it all in.
I have seen good scams, including in Sri Lanka, such as having random people walk up to you and try to coax you into an impromptu tour, immediately joined by random taxis and whatnot at just the right time.
Some of the other scams include bribes, various bar scams, overcharging, or innocuous ones such as taxis refusing to use their meters.
04 April 2013
I posed a question on Facebook about ammunition availability across the United States. About 150 answers have come in so far:
28 March 2013
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.
Read more: Stalking Soldier Arrested, Disarmed by Texas Police: Some facts, opinion, and analysis
27 March 2013
Burma neighbors Thailand on the west. For 65 years, a war against and between ethnic groups in Burma has been on. The conflicts created many internally displaced refugees, while others have crossed into Thailand. Thailand has allowed this incursion for humanitarian reasons.
One of the ethnic groups are called Karenni. I visited some of the Karen (not Karenni but closely related) villages in Burma and Thailand. The Karen I have met have all been Christian, and their churches are little more than bamboo huts similar to those on Gilligan’s Island. Some people sleep on mats on the bamboo floors, while others use hammocks.
Their homes are made from bamboo, planks, and thatch.
04 February 2013
News of Chris Kyle’s shooting has reached around the world. Many people are asking for my thoughts, and so this morning I write these words in response.
Chris was credited with killing about 160 enemy combatants in Iraq. He is called the most deadly sniper in US history. Obviously this will not sit well with many people, while others will see it differently.
It is unseemly to politicize this today, and I will drop it there.
Chris was known for helping folks suffering from PTSD. I have enjoyed hearing Chris talk at times (not to me personally but interviews) and I am sure that he would frown on people blaming such acts on PTSD.
Reckless speculation hurts our veterans.
25 January 2013
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.
(Photo Credit dvids)
17 January 2013
[Authored by a Marine Field Grade Officer]
Over the weekend, I received an order from Higher Headquarters to ask for volunteers for 2013 and 2014 deployments to Afghanistan. Their mission: train and fight with Afghan National Security Forces during the same time that America is leaving Afghanistan.
This is not the first time we have asked for volunteers to deploy. In the reserve community, we have done this since at least 1995 when I volunteered to deploy during humanitarian operations to deal with the Haitian and Cuban refugee crisis. During the Global War on Terrorism, we routinely asked reservists to volunteer for deployment. When I returned to the reserve community after active duty in 2006, I witnessed this practice first hand, this time for combat deployments.
When directed, our job is to augment the active duty force. But many of our servicemen and women are not actually deploying because they have been recalled to active duty; they have elected to stay at a unit and have volunteered to deploy. These Marines are usually called “non-obs” or “non obligated” and can, at their convenience, drop to the inactive ready reserve or transfer to another unit. Once a unit is slated for deployment, there is usually a decision point for these individuals; they must leave the unit or deploy.
LTC Erik Kurilla (L) and SFC Rob Bowman after terrible car bomb in Mosul, Iraq (April 2005)
15 January 2013
The United States has lost a great Soldier and fine man to cancer. Rob struggled with the disease for about 20 months before passing yesterday. It is with great sorrow that I write these words.
In combat, Rob was courageous and tactically expert. I got to know him in the Deuce Four battalion in Iraq, where Rob was recon platoon sergeant.
Few battalions in Iraq or Afghanistan saw as much combat as the Deuce Four. Recon platoon was the leading edge. I was lucky enough to do many missions with recon, and we were close neighbors for five months during some of the heaviest fighting of the war. Later I came back and had dinner with Rob and his wife Coleen at Fort Lewis and we kept in touch.
15 January 2013
These images came from Burma today. There have been reports about peace breaking out in Burma, but reports to me from insiders indicate this is false.
07 January 2013
A note appeared on a private message board. This private group includes many current and former generals, and just about anyone you see on television or in books as a national security specialist, ranging from CIA to all the top war correspondents, special operations types galore, and high-level policy makers. There is significant education value in just reading their traffic.
A few days back, retired Marine and 3-star General Mick Trainor left this note. I asked LTG (ret.) Trainor for permission to publish on my website, and he agreed.
Now for the show:
06 January 2013
A defense expert commenting on my dispatch “Stuck in the Mud” recommended the book Mud: A Military History.
I completed reading the book. The recommendation was solid.
The subject became more interesting in Iraq. Goo would sometimes rain from the skies. Later in Afghanistan, where mud also rains, my interest was sealed.
I saw mud effects on the war in Nepal, in terrain where Americans could hardly fight under our current paradigms, other than by airstrikes and distant fires. US ground forces with our heavy gear would be hopeless in Nepalese-type terrain.
Filipino commanders on Mindanao told me in detail about the great adversity that mud causes the troops we support. In Thailand, I visit jungles that our gear could not navigate after light rain, or even in the dry season.
A stark reality of my observations in more than 65 countries is that there is more terrain where our current gear will not work than terrain where it will, and this is true even in flat Florida (other than that we have great roads in the Sunshine State).
Roads provide the illusion of greater mobility than we possess.
02 January 2013
The day draws closer when a General will be in the Pentagon, 8,000 miles away from battle, and he will signal a sniper to kill or not to kill. Taking it a step more, nothing will prevent the trigger-puller from being separated from the rifleman. The General in the Pentagon could control whether or not the rifle is active to fire.
Press Release:
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.
18 December 2012
All tracking begins with a start point. Start points can be found in many ways.
The Israelis create track traps in soft soil that are impossible to cross without leaving spoor. Israeli forces make heavy use of trackers.
Zoologists create similar track traps when trying to locate elusive animals. They follow the spoor. Spoor has various definitions. For use here, spoor is any and all sign made by animal, man, or machine.
Butterflies on suspected elephant dung: many signs are obvious.
10 December 2012
The British learned that employing local trackers can be disastrous. Indigenous folks can be immensely talented at local tracking because they are tuned intimately to their biowebs. Problems start from there.
“Jungle Man” might be able to trail a butterfly—especially so if he can sell it—but he cannot read a map. He does not get lost because he knows his home range and how to navigate there.
08 December 2012
US Navy image with GPS data embedded
Military photographers sometimes forget to turn off the camera GPS. The Navy caption for this electric image is found on Flickr:
Lightning flashes near USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (Nov. 19, 2012) Flashes of lighting are seen over the horizon as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) operates in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. Dwight D. Eisenhower is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Greg Linderman/Released) 121119-N-DO751-004
Flickr LINK to this image
More Articles...
- VIDEO: Firefight While Waiting for MEDEVAC
- Giduck Dismissal Order
- Wolf Pack 103: Sole Mates
- WolfPack 102: Sensors
- Wolf Pack 101: Introduction to Combat Tracking
- Mysterious Blood Trails at my Home
- Taliban Email Distribution List
- Petraeus Stoning Sentence Handed Down by Elders
- Petraeus: A Sad Day for the United States
- MEDEVAC Issues: Video
- A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN
- Milblogs: A Rise and Fall
- Revered Pilot Comments on Dust Off Failures
- Talal: Never Heard from Again
- Painting the Target
- President Obama Fumbled Afghanistan
- War Panorama
- MEDEVAC at FOB Pasab, Afghanistan
- No Bronze Star
- Mark Safranski Comments Col (ret.) Harry Tunnell
- Pedro and Submarine
- SOF: Targeting Prince Harry
- Rumor in Afghanistan: President Sucking Assets Away
- Stunning Letter: Infantry Colonel Communiqué to Secretary of the Army
- Thai Translation of "America's Dumbest War, Ever"
- All The King’s Horses (Some notes from a weekend of thought)
- Obama v. Romney: Brutal Combat in Thailand
- “Faggots” and Women are Unfit for Combat: The Face of a Broken Army
- Rotten Rose Petals in War
- F-18 Demise
- ‘The Good War’ Has Gone Terribly Wrong
- False Sense of Something: Some observations and thoughts on the unfolding wars
- Standing Well Back
- Momma Squirrel Breaks Bad
- Commandos for Jesus (Article: Foreign Policy)
- Soldier did Not Commit Suicide
- America’s Dumbest War, Ever
- Armed Medics in Bloody Combat
- Stuck in the Mud
- Red Air: One Year Later
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