Remember when no one wanted to see a US Military uniform with American Flag arm patches or our standard helmets/cover? Remember when our fighting men and women were being sent to fight and protect on foreign soil, yet were commanded by another country’s General? I’m not talking about Vietnam, I’m talking about during the Clinton Years. In fact, when we were asked to help out countries in trouble, the rest of the UN Security Council said we couldn’t be in our own uniform. We needed to be “softer” as a fighting force, ’cause we were just the Rent-A-Cops for the UN.

Huh? Who’s your Daddy? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Or what about the UN’s 7th Daddy, Kofi Annan?

I THINK NOT!

Would you rather have a President, CINC, that watches your six or one that sells you out for BILL-YUNS?!

Does anyone know how much was spent in Somalia? This is only one of the many “conflicts” we were asked to participate in during Billy Boys reign. I checked, and straight from this UN Report, for UNOSOM I & II, this one mission looks like this:

LOCATION: Somalia
HEADQUARTERS: Mogadishu
DURATION: March 1993 - March 1995
STRENGTH: Approximately 28,000 military and police personnel; there was also a provision for some 2,800 international and locally recruited staff
FATALITIES: 147 (143 military personnel, 3 international civilian staff and 1 local staff)
EXPENDITURES: $1,643,485,500 net

Hey, did you catch that last one? $1.65 Billion, net … uh-huh, they said net. I’d like to know what was really spent, gross dollars, but we all know that would be too much to stomach. And, are we sure that the monies spent weren’t actually an international pay off to terrorists for political hay? If you read the UN report you’ll see the number of times the program was extended, the countless “warnings” to disarm, and the lame attempts to put pressure on the Somalian leaders to form a real government. It starts to look like those tin horn dictators were just looting the bank - our bank accounts people!

Oh, and to find out the troop strength and breakdown, ya gotta go allllll the way to the bottom of the report. I’ll save you some time:

“The original authorized strength of UNOSOM II under resolution 814 (1993) was approximately 28,000 military personnel and some 2,800 civilian staff.”

And these are the countries that participated (31 is a good showing, I might add):

“Military personnel were provided by the following countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Zimbabwe.”

Now, here’s the kicker:

“Supporting UNOSOM II in the field, but not part of it, were approximately 17,700 troops of the United States Joint Task Force in Somalia. A Quick Reaction Force was part of the United States presence.”

That QRF consisted of the team of US Army Rangers that lost lives in Somalia (God Rest Their Souls!)

After March of 1995, Mr. Clinton authorized sending the 3rd ID, Company A, to Macedonia under the command of a Finnish General. Then SPC Michael New said, NO! to ripping off his American Flag from his uniform, and NO! to prancing around in a baby blue friggin’ helmet! What did it get him? I suspect some of you know the story - tossed out on his ear! Well, he landed in the brig first.

For the love of his Country, and he was ONE out of 550 that mustered to the parade ground in full US Military uniform. Yep, 549 obeyed a direct order to report to the command of another country’s General. At their level they were told that the order came directly from the CINC. To Michael, and to me as well, it began to look like after all the destruction being leveled at the US Military, it had finally happened: secession of US Force to a foreign power. What to do? His US Army was gone, and what he had signed up for was no longer something of valor.

Umm, my question is, who had Michael’s six? One man standing alone in a sea of Chain of Command mayhem. Were the Joint Chiefs really on board with the order, or was something else happening at the time?

Ever read Presidential Decision Directive 25 (PDD-25)? There is only a summary available right now. You can get a pretty good idea of how the CINC is the one responsible for Michael’s six by reading this summary/review online. Pay special attention to the sections that cover the Commander-in-Chief Clause and Command versus Operational Control.

This is what was happening to the US Military, by 1997:

• Wholesale distrust of the military within the United States of America, and outside
• Continuous breaking down of morale by force reductions and lack of materiel support
• Restriction of future development programs and research into new defense technologies
• Wasting money and time by politicizing the use and usefulness of the US Military
• US Military becomes the world’s police force and Meals-On-Wheels in blue hairnets
• The World’s Liberator and Repatriating Firm in a near state of disrepair
• Billions to Trillions of dollars flowing from the US into other countries under less than admirable deals

I’ll tell ya, I came in under Carter and left way before Clinton took hold. I know that some of you served under Clinton. I wish that there were Milbloggers back in the day. Maybe things would have been different?

However, if we begin to take our eye off the ball, this could happen again. So far, evil forces like “she who shall be nameless” have not been able to wander the globe unchallenged, or those protesting outside Walter Reed Hospital have been forced from their position, or those that seek to defame a family in mourning have not gone unanswered. We need to continue to put pressure on our elected officials. We have an obligation to protect our country from those that seek to destroy us, inside and outside our borders. And, we can handle the snide, stupid, jealous talk from the EU, Hollywood, and supercilious college professors. These detractors forget that:

• They do not know the strength and commitment of the US Military.
• They do not know the strength and commitment of the spouses, children, parents, grandparents, and friends of our fighting men and women.
• They do not know the strength, commitment, and constant love and support by the Milblogger community.
• They do not know the strength, commitment, and ever vigilant watch over their six by the CINC, President George W. Bush.

Do I hear a God Bless America and her US Military?! I thought I could hear you from here!

Short Technorati search for other posts about Michael New
Far Right-Wing Minded
Chaos-In-Motion
Three Knockdown Rule
Clear and Present
Smash Left Wing Scum

Short Technorati search on PDD-25
The Glittering Eye
Get the US Out of the UN - Now!

Backup Material for UNOSOM II, Michael New, and PDD-25
UNOSOM II by DPI
Michael New - How it all began
Unclassified Summary of PDD-25 (details of Secret PDD 25 are concealed from public scrutiny)
“Command” versus “Operational Control”: A Critical Review of PDD-25
Commanding Officer Oath - UN Deployments
No World Court, No World Army

TAGS: Fix4RSO, Milblog, Military, Honor, UN

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