Band of Brats

The enemy owns the terrain
--FOX news report on Afghanistan
(h/t This Fucking War)

What can you do?
What can you do?
With a brat like this always on your back
--Beat the Brat, The Ramones

We happy, we few, we band of brothers
--Henry V, (IV, iii)
_______________

Our previous post concerned Ranger's Jump School days and his transfer immediately thereafter to Jumpmaster school. He is not alone in this progression, but there is an online group, SOCNET.com, billing themselves "The Special Operations Community Network," which has been a thorn in Ranger's side from the start, and which questions the validity of this progression.

What once was a proud Band of Brothers has devolved with SOCNET into a Band of Brats.

Kirk -- leader of the Socnet.com hogsheads due to his more capable verbal skills -- has never seen fit to retract the baseless accusations made on their site against Ranger's credibility (nor has he bothered to file a Stolen Valor complaint, as that is what his band is alleging.) In addition, not one SOCNUT has accepted Ranger's offer to meet at the Ranger Training Brigade to verify my status.

All bark, no bite, the SOCNET dogs happily while away their days yipping and nipping at the heels of their chosen opponent, incapable are they of engaging in reasoned dialogue, the right to which they supposedly fought for.

They will attack, but they will not retract their errors. These brats are only interested in herd-like feeding frenzies devoid of reality-based considerations. They act out like children, vying for pats on the head by ringmaster Kirk. Their tabs and scrolls cannot cover their moral cowardice.

If these guys represent the Special Operations community, then we're sucking the big one.

MACVSOG PUC, Redux: Respect

I'm about to give you all of my money
And all I'm askin' in return, honey
Is to give me my propers
When you get home
--Respect, Aretha Franklin

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
--Centerfold, J. Geils Band

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose
--To An Athlete dying Young,
A. E. Housman
_________________

This may seem a tempest in a teapot to those who have never been in military bureaucracy, but if they cannot get even this small citation issue right, that seems indicative of slippages in more consequential areas.

To recapitulate: Ranger finally received his Presidential Unit Citation in February after petitioning and being rejected by the Army's Awards and Decorations branch. It was only through intervention by Ranger's Congressman Allen Boyd, and his veterans assistant Michael Bishop, that the citation, awarded to the unit in 2001, was finally issued to Ranger. Although the letter of authorization and DD215 were finally sent, no certificate was sent.

Instead, what you see here is what he got: no heavy paper, no embossed seal -- just a plain Kinko's 3 ¢ copy on cheap paper.

The citation exists -- Ranger's father has his own PUC certificate earned in World War II with his name indicated on the document, and the MACVSOG PUC certificate has been posted online by its various recipients. It is on parchment, with blue embossing, and bears the official seal. (A Google search turned up a copy online posted by Ranger's associate Fred "Lightening" Wunderlich here.)

The HQ Department of the Army, Chief of the Military Awards branch, actually wrote my senator a letter saying the citation cannot be given to an individual recipient (me). If not to us, the recipients, then to whom? Maybe it just doesn't go to Special Forces officers who are audacious enough to write against the current wars.

What about, "We Support the Troops"? The Kinko's copy of my cert is a finger in my eye, and not a meet tribute from a grateful nation. To Ranger, this is a denigration of his service, and is indicative of the value placed upon his service. Soldiers are not given xerox copies of their awards.

The wording of the citation is even incorrect: twice it is given correctly as "Studies and Observations Group" (SOG); however, six times SOG is called "Special Operations Group" -- a unit that never existed! So 75% of the references to the awarded unit are incorrect. One would think that a document authorized by the President and signed by the Secretary of the Army would be technically correct.

Ranger is torqued that such a simple administrative process has morphed into a typical military run-around. As an aside, he has received his share of "Howdy, fellow snake eater letters" which are invariably from SOCNET sorts seeking to "blow his cover". They usually come back, tail between legs, touting their great contacts on the inside, and how they've vetted Ranger.

Well, if any of you patriots has a contact in awards and decorations, please help me find out why another patriot can't get his PUC certificate. If all else fails, maybe Ebay will come through for me -- they are selling MACVSOG unit citations here. The surrealism of this reality almost trumps Vietnam.

Thanks for your service, boys and girls -- now get lost.

Missiles and Spears

--Let's hang 'im!
--No, burn 'im at the stake!
--But 'es innocent.
--Boiling oil!
--Life of Brian, Monty Python

The cognitive basis of anger:
surrender freedom of choice and abdicate rationality
to become prisoners of a primal thinking mechanism
--Prisoners of Hate, Aaron T. Beck, M.D.

[R]e-examine all you have been told at school or church,
or in any books, and dismiss whatever insults your soul
--Walt Whitman

Ranger ≠ smart
_____________

Oorah, Dr. Beck.

The blog name says what it is: a Ranger against war. This fact has drawn much fire from supposed comrades in arms who call Ranger a "non-patriot" because he speaks his mind clearly and with the force of conviction.

We have received some incredible threats at this blog, most ham-fisted and vulgar, a few from more able opponents. These proto-conservatives can not brook an alternate point of view from within their ranks. Because they can not or will not engage in dialog, they choose to fight ad hominem, attacking Ranger' impeccable credentials.

Being a Ranger does not make one Superman. We surmise every occupation has its share of petty and embittered yahoos. To our SOCNET brothers: Lighten up -- you have an old Ranger in town, and he does not happen to agree with your war hawk stance.

Because a man is a Ranger does not mean he must check his brains at the door. Civility may also be retained. Y'all are some crack investigators once you get going, and you are pretty rabid about your project of discrediting thinkin' Rangers, but maybe you could channel that energy into something productive. At least muzzle your vituperative until you have some proof of something.

Ranger has been informed that many of these men have never left the jungle or the desert, and so these erstwhile patriots periodically launch vulgar and reactive attacks against Ranger, whom they have identified as "enemy." It is sad that many of the "bravest and best" have chosen to turn their minds off in the name of patriotism. Blind allegiance is the dead opposite of patriotism.

Since this crowd seems to be keen on cartoons, the character they most resemble is the Tasmanian Devil, whipping himself into an uncontrollable dervish over the least irritant. They are like wild dogs laying on a piece of meat. It is ungentlemanly, to say the least.

If they are patriots, they should understand the Bill of Rights. Their efforts to squelch the First Amendment are so un-American. Those who call Ranger anti-military have not read the site. It hurts my soul to read the vile poison pens -- a corrosive way to think and to live. Egocentrism bound to ideology = hate.

The tab is simply a symbol. It neither validates nor obviates thought.

"How can he disagree with our Commander in Chief? He's a freethinker -- he's liberal --he can't be one of us!" And indeed, he is not. We fancy we are patriotic Americans with moderate views, but our positions are anathema to those who soldier on, sniffing out every instance of supposed stolen valor, of which every freethinking military man is suspect.

They have a template, beginning innocuously enough: "Hey there old Ranger Buddy/fellow snake-eater/etc.", which invariably ends in the ambush. "Your credentials aren't the right (color/font/paper/etc.); you are a phony/schoolhouse Ranger. . ." Yadda yadda.

Exactly two of these Ranger buddies were the real deal. You know who you are, and we are grateful you are on the flanks.

Since Ranger has his pick of mottoes, he says, "De Oppresso Liber, All The Way!"

RLTW

Regimental motto:
Sua Sponte

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God
who is sending a love letter to the world
--Mother Teresa

Well, that's all right, Mama
That's all right with you
Yeah, that's all right now, Mama
Just anyway you do
--That's All Right Mama, Elvis Presley
______________

Diane Schroer, a Ranger-qualified Special Forces officer who began transitioning from male to female shortly after retiring as a Colonel after 25 years of distinguished service in the Army recently won her Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress.

Schroer was awarded a job as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress, but the offer was rescinded after the former David Schroer informed her supervisor-to-be that he would "start becoming Diane before beginning the new job."
The Boson Globe reported last week, "Schroer said that in the Army she was director of the classified group that tracked and targeted terrorists, and she briefed high-level officials such as Vice President Dick Cheney. After retiring from the military, David Schroer interviewed for the Congressional Research Service job at the Library of Congress and got an offer in December 2004 (Transsexual Wins Bias Lawsuit.)" The only reason she was terminated prior to service was her impending gender transition.

We wonder how sympathetic the Shadowspear or SOCNET communities are to their fellow Ranger's plight. We are sure they would quibble over the Colonel's "schoolhouse Ranger" status, somehow finding a way to shun her from a community of potential brotherhood and support. Ranger imagines they will be in a real bind having to recognize that a woman is actually a Special Forces - Ranger type with bigger balls than most of them possess.

Even if they were to recognize Schroer as one of their own, she would then have to contend with their Neanderthal views of women in general. Probably a less savory scenario for Schroer than the SOCNET members.

We as a nation have a long way to go if we wish to claim inclusivity and full membership in the 21st Century.