Army Drops the Ball

Army Sends Infant to Protective Services, Mom to Afghanistan

Friday 13 November 2009 by: Dahr Jamail | Inter Press Service

Ventura, California - US Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother, is being threatened with a military court-martial if she does not agree to deploy to Afghanistan, despite having been told she would be granted extra time to find someone to care for her 11-month-old son while she is overseas.

[read the rest]

For the sake of argument let's just say Specialist Hutchinson was trying to get out of deployment. How is the Army brass justified in their actions? Hopefully the media spotlight this story is generating will shame someone into doing the right thing.

What is it about women...

...in the military that so threatens men in the military? Found over at the SLDN Blog


Women Disproportionately Fired under DADT

As the nation celebrated Women's Equality Day last week, I couldn't help but think of the women proudly serving today. I was also reminded of a devastating truth: DADT continues to disproportionately affect women in the military. While they only represent roughly 15 percent of the armed forces, women account for nearly half of all DADT discharges in the Air Force and Army.

Countless women have experienced this discrimination first hand. Take Cathleen Glover, who served as an Arabic linguist until 2003 when she was honorably discharged after coming out. Former National Guard specialist Amy Brian, who served in Iraq and was out to all of her comrades, was discharged earlier this year after it was reported she kissed her partner in a Wal-Mart checkout line.

As women expand their roles in the military, it is important that they be judged by their performance on the job.

09-04-09 By Liz Feuerbach, Communications Intern

Will Obama Lift the Military Ban on Gays?

"I take the president-elect on his word," he said. "I think he'll do it."

So says Aubrey Sarvis, director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network from an article in the Air Force Insider. SLDN has been on the forefront of the challenge to rescind the regressive Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy enacted under Clinton in 1993.

President Clinton was the first major party presidential candidate to court the Gay vote when he ran in the 1992 election. After his election, he went back on his promise to eliminate the ban on Gays serving in the military. DADT was supposed to be a compromise that has ultimately been responsible for the discharge of 12,500 servicepersons, including some 800 key positions as Arab translators, medical personnel and pilots. Oddly enough, the military seems to enforce DADT only when it's politically or perhaps personally expedient. As in the case of USN's PO2 Jason Knight who was recalled to serve in Iraq after he was discharged for being Gay.

Backers of reform said the move toward loosening restriction reflects a change in societal attitudes."There has been a sea change in the way this issue is viewed, especially in light of our national security needs," said Democratic lawmaker Ellen Tauscher."We shouldn't be forcing good men and women out of military service," Tauscher told AFP.

The lawmaker is the lead sponsor in the House of Representatives of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would replace "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

SLDN has a petition to sign and shooting off an email to Congresswoman Taucher couldn't hurt.

I'm pulling for Barack to keep his promise. [Related reading]

Don't Ask

...I'll just tell.

The 60 Minutes episode entitled, "Military Soft On Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
Is Military More Tolerant Of Gay Members In Wartime?" was a real disappointment. First, in the inimitable words of Stephen Sondheim, "It's intolerable, being tolerated." The U.S.military has become "more tolerant...and...soft," by allowing convicted felons, lowering intelligence standards, increasing age limits (42) and literally paying people to join and stay.

Why? Because George W. Bush and his legions of cronies have broken the military -- not to mention the country as a whole. The military have "relaxed" the witch hunts of previous years precisely because the current servicemembers are overworked with war on two fronts and another one looming.

The 60 Minutes piece was a joke. Representing the government was the infamous tool Duncan Hunter (R-CA). Leslie Stahl doesn't bother to call him on much, most particularly when asked about why Gay persons can't serve and he responds, "It's wartime..."and he goes on to intimate that Gays won't or can't fight. "We need hardened warriors, " says Hunter. Leslie Stahl just lets it go as if it's a given that Gays can't or won't fight.


I am sick to death of listening to Gay-bashers in and out of the service. Others agree. JOHN M. SHALIKASHVILI, former Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff says in a NYT article, "I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces." Watch the segment and then let CBS know that 75% of the public do not agree with DADT or the "60 Minute" treatment of such an important topic.

A Soldier Persecuted

By no other than the Bush administration--big surprise. A Soldier's Officer.

In a nondescript conference room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside listened last week as an Army prosecutor outlined the criminal case against her in a preliminary hearing. The charges: attempting suicide and endangering the life of another soldier while serving in Iraq.

H/T to Op for the link.

It's been 'Settled'

Judge Benjamin Settle of the United States District Court (best.name.for.a.judge. ever and possibly a new meaning of the verb*) ) issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Lt. Ehren Watada. While not over, this victory greatly increases Lt. Watada's chances of a positive outcome for his case.

“. . . This case concerns an alleged violation of the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause, which cannot be said to fall within a set of affairs that are peculiar to the jurisdiction of the military authorities. . . . The same Fifth Amendment protections are in place for military service members as are afforded to civilians. . . . To hold otherwise would ignore the many sacrifices that American soldiers have made throughout history to protect those sacred rights." - Judge Benjamin Settle

At approximately 3:39 PM (PST), Nov 8, 2007, Judge Benjamin H. Settle of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (sitting in Tacoma, WA) issued a Preliminary Injunction in favor of 1Lt Ehren Watada.

In his decision, Judge Settle made the following significant points:

1. The remedy sought by Lt Watada -- a writ of habeas corpus in a pretrial setting -- is rare but appropriate;

2. Lt Watada will suffer irreparable injury if relief is denied;

3. Lt Watada is likely to succeed on the merits;

4. Military Judge Head abused his discretion in rejecting the Stipulation of Fact;

5. Even if Judge Head did not abuse his discretion in rejecting the Stipulation of Fact, there was still a lack of "manifest necessity" for declaring the mistrial;

6. Judge Head failed to adequately consider possible alternatives;

7. The balance of potential harms weighs in Lt Watada's favor; and

8. The public interest favors granting relief.

Go over to Marc Lord's Adored by Hordes for the rest of the story. Marc has summed up Lt. Watada's actions like this:

It takes one kind of bravery to storm a machine-gun nest to save what's left of your comrades. It takes another to storm a hostile establishment to save what's left of a nation. A few people have both kinds. Thank you, Lieutenant Watada.

*Settled, verb:reversing an injustice done by the right-wing hate machine

God's Soldiers

Last week a disturbing new video surfaced featuring high-ranking Air Force and Army officers in uniform and on active duty, evangelizing for Jesus. This behavior is expressly prohibited by military ethics regulations and the UCMJ.

One officer, Maj.Gen. Jack Catton, USAF, is heard on the video stating his 'priorities' as, "...God, then my family, and then country." I guess I'd better hope that his god is my god and should wish I was a member of his family because his oath to defend the U.S. Constitution and the Air Force Core Values consisting of "Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence in All We Do" doesn't seem to matter much.

Specifically, "Service Before Self" is defined as, "The giving of self to provide for the welfare of others. Air Force people focus service in defense of the nation." Participating, producing, and appearing in uniform while in the Pentagon espousing hard-core Christian ideology hardly seems to fit that definition.

This new revelation angers and frightens me. These regulations are in place for good reason. The Founders specifically codified separation of church and state in the 1st Amendment. The military is an arm of the government. Should those who have the power to wage war and kill have control of nuclear weapons in what could easily be characterized as a war on Islam?

The hypocrisy and theocratic ideology is implicit as demonstrated by the treatment of anti-war protesters by the military. Jason Leopold at TruthOut writes: "Over the past few years, the military has set its sights on prosecuting Iraq war veterans who have completed active duty, soured on the war and participated in antiwar protests while wearing their uniforms. Recently, the US Marine Corps prosecuted Cpl. Adam Kokesh and Marine Sgt. Liam Madden, both of whom were photographed marching in an antiwar protest while wearing their uniforms in what the Marine Corps says was a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Military prosecutors vigorously sought to have both men dishonorably discharged. However, it appears unlikely the military will apply the same standard to the Air Force and Army officers who the inspector general said violated the same code of conduct Kokesh and Madden were found to have broken, according to the disciplinary recommendations of the report."

Leopold posts the video and his well-researched article.