Stars and Stripes|by Nancy Montgomery

HEIDELBERG, Germany — The Army recently asked 45 of its Soldiers in the highest enlisted rank to retire for substandard performance, past criminal convictions, problems with alcohol, fraternization or sexual harassment in their recent pasts.

Of the 45 sergeants major whose records were flagged under the newly reinstituted Qualitative Management Program, 28 complied, putting in their retirement paperwork and quietly fading away.

But 15 fought it, arguing that they were valuable Army assets despite any previous incidents. A panel of their peers usually agreed: 12 of the 15 were allowed to remain on active duty. The remaining three were forced to retire, however.

Two of the original 45 cases that were flagged were deferred because investigations were still under way.

Lt. Col. Robert Yost, chief of the Army’s enlisted professional development, which deals with promotion, separation and retention policy, said that not all past problems, especially those that were singular events in a long career, deserved forced retirement.
“They might have received a letter of reprimand, say, eight years ago,” he said. “The board, they might have seen a very stellar performance since then.

“No, it’s not a zero-tolerance Army. Folks might trip,” Yost said. Most of the misconduct or poor performance evaluations took place four to seven years ago, he said.
The result seems to contrast with what officials said in August when they announced that after seven years of suspension during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the QMP program was back.

Officials said then that although affected Soldiers could make their arguments to the central promotions board deciding their cases, it wasn’t recommended. “The time to learn and grow from your mistakes has kind of passed,” said Gerald Purcell, a retired sergeant major who helped devise the program.

Yost declined to describe what sorts of misconduct or bad performances were involved in the three cases of the sergeants major forced to retire.

But he said that overall, those flagged usually had more than one negative item in their files, a combination of a general officer letter of reprimand or an Article 15, along with a poor performance evaluation or a relief for cause — sometimes for more than one incident, sometimes for the same one. Failing certain leadership courses was also among the things that would flag a file, but if the sole deficiency was a failure to meet weight standards, the file was not flagged.

The E-9s whose records were flagged were culled from a total of 3,511 that came under review. All had between 20 and 30 years of service and were eligible to retire, and the missteps had occurred while they were E-9s.

All 45 were entitled to an honorable discharge as well as their retirement, medical and other benefits.

Results from last month’s review of the records of some 9,000 master sergeants will be publicly released in three months. After that, 7,000 E-7s, sergeants first class, will undergo the same drill.

The program was brought back, officials said, because it had become increasingly clear that marginal NCOs who previously would have retired to avoid a QMP were no longer doing so without the program in place.

“We know it because the sergeant major of the Army gets notes about incidents and scenarios with senior leaders, incidents of misconduct,” Purcell said. “It’s become more frequent.”

You Served podcast producer Marcus Penn sent almost 2,000 emails to his wife while he was deployed to Iraq in 2007.

The South Carolina Marine relied on technology to remain close to home during his stretch in Al Anbar province. His story is recounted in a story on MSNBC’s Technology & Science page entitled “Staying in touch with loved ones during war.”

You can read the story in full here.

Congratulations to Marcus from all of us at VAMortgageCenter.com, and thanks to writer Diane Mapes.

The New York Times is reporting that the Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.

The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder, and was a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.

Well it seems that finally out allies in the coalition that are trying to stabilize Afghanistan are finally putting some more skin in the game. I don’t know what our Administration or military leadership has promised them, but I hope their presence in Afghanistan will be more than just supporting from inside the FOB.

Germany’s Cabinet has formally approved plans to increase the country’s troop contingent in Afghanistan by up to 850 troops.
Government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said Tuesday that the mandate under which German soldiers serve in Afghanistan will be raised to allow a maximum 5,350 to serve there – up from the current 4,500.
Under the plan, announced last month, Berlin will send 500 extra troops to Afghanistan and focus more strongly on training local forces. The new mandate will allow for another 350 soldiers to be deployed as a “flexible reserve,” for example helping secure elections.
Parliamentary approval is still required for the mandate, as for all German deployments abroad. Steegmans said it will run through Feb. 28 next year.

I don’t know if they mean prevent it totally or prevent a more severe case of PTSD, but it makes perfect sense that the faster horrific pain is addressed and the less suffering that happens, the better the injured solider will fare in the long run.

Health News
By Allie Montgomery
Published: Thursday, 14 January 2010

EXCERPT

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) affects both active duty soldiers and war veterans, but now there may be a way to help prevent it. Immediately administering a treatment of morphine to troops wounded in the field can cut the chance in half that they will develop PTSD, according to a new study that is suggesting a new strategy for preventing the psychological fallout of war.

Researchers from the U.S. Naval Health Research Center led the study of approximately 700 troops that were injured in Iraq between the years of 2004 and 2006. Troy Lisa Holbrook, who is an epidemiologist at the Naval Center and the leader of this study, said, “It was surprising how strong the effect of the morphine was.” The findings of this study were published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Of course, whether or not the Pentagon will adopt this practice on the battlefield remains to be seen. Dr. Jack Smith, who is the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for clinical and program policy, stated that the “very interesting findings” are “likely to stimulate further research.”

Approximately 53,000 troops that have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq have been treated for PTSD, a disorder in which someone who has endured a traumatic event keeps re-experiencing both the event and the fear and emotions it caused. These patients often have trouble with relationships, substance abuse, work and physical ailments.

The researchers have been testing different ways to treat it, and this new study looked at whether fast and strong pain relief can help to prevent it. However, it was still unclear as to whether it was the fast pain treatment or something more specific to the morphine that made the difference.  READ MORE

This originally appeared on Military.com

The Army general who ordered three local Navy SEALs to trial for their involvement in an alleged case of detainee abuse says he is more upset by the men’s apparent attempt to cover up the incident than by the “relatively minor” injuries inflicted on a high-value detainee.

Maj. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, head of Special Operations Command Central, wrote to lawmakers who had questioned the prosecutions that their perceptions of the case appear to be based upon “incomplete and factually inaccurate press coverage.”

Fox News was the first to report in November that the SEALs would be prosecuted for their actions in Iraq in early September, spurring tens of thousands of people to sign online petitions calling for the charges to be dropped.

The military released Cleveland’s two-page letter Wednesday evening. It came in response to a Dec. 10 letter from Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, co-signed by 40 other members of Congress.

“While the assault and resulting injury to the detainee were relatively minor, the more disconcerting allegations are those related to the Sailors’ attempts to cover up the incident, particularly in what appears to be an effort to influence the testimony of a witness,” Cleveland wrote.

Petty Officer 1st Class Julio A. Huertas Jr. and Petty Officers 2nd Class Matthew McCabe and Jonathan Keefe, assigned to SEAL Team Ten at the Little Creek campus of the Joint Expeditionary Base , face multiple misdemeanor charges related to the treatment of Ahmed Hashim Abed. Abed is thought to be linked to the 2004 killings of four Blackwater contractors whose bodies were dragged through the streets of Fallujah and suspended from a bridge.

McCabe is the only person charged with assaulting Abed. Prosecutors have said he punched Abed in the midsection.

Huertas and Keefe are charged with dereliction of duty for not protecting Abed, and all three commandos are accused of making a false official statement when questioned about the incident. Huertas also is accused of impeding the investigation.

“General, surely you agree that we are in a war that we must win,” Burton wrote to Cleveland on Dec. 10. “Our troops and your SEALs need to be bold and decisive in combat; not looking over their shoulder fearing legal jeopardy for every action or gesture.”

Citing “press reports,” Burton questioned whether Abed had actually been in the SEALs’ custody when his injuries occurred and said that al-Qaida operatives are trained to “self-inflict injuries for the sole purpose of accusing U.S. forces of abuse.”

Cleveland responded to both points, saying that the allegations of mistreatment didn’t start with Abed and aren’t based solely on his word. Rather, the allegations were “initially raised by other U.S. service members,” he wrote.

And Abed’s alleged injuries occurred several hours after the operation had ended, while he was in U.S. custody at a detainee holding facility, not during the operation that captured him, Cleveland wrote.

About 100 people gathered to protest the charges when McCabe and Huertas were arraigned Dec. 7 at Norfolk Naval Station.

They are scheduled to be tried later this month in Norfolk. Keefe’s trial has been set for April.

All the offenses are misdemeanors punishable by demotion in rank, up to a year in jail and a bad-conduct discharge. Cleveland said he chose to deal with the incident through non judicial punishment – an option that would have kept the case out of the public eye but could have effectively ended the SEALs’ careers.

The men refused that option and chose to face courts-martial.

Cleveland explained that several factors led him to refer the cases to courts-martial:

“Discipline and integrity are primary factors that make our U.S. special operators such an effective fighting force. The abuse of a detainee, no matter how minor, creates strategic repercussions that harm our nation’s security and ultimately costs the lives of U.S. citizens,” he wrote. “When there are reasonable grounds to believe that an offense has been committed, and that a specific individual in my command has committed that offense, it is my duty to take appropriate action to not only ensure justice is done, but also to maintain good order and discipline.”

In his words “… the more disconcerting allegations are those related to the Sailors’ attempts to cover up the incident …” wrote Maj. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, head of Special Operations Command Central.

Last year around this time, we interviewed LTG Jerry Boykin. Having worked under Boykin, I know the kind of man he is. He’s inspirational and someone I’d follow anywhere. Thankfully, I know a few general officers that fit that bill.

Boykin is now speaking out about the Nidal Hasan case in which the Army dropped the ball on removing an Islamic extremist from within the ranks while attempting to shut me down and a man like Boykin was forced out of uniform for talking about Christianity and denouncing extremism. His frankness was labeled “Islamaphobia” by the MSM, including the New York Times and spelled the end of his career.

The commander of Task Force Marne clarifies a directive involving prohibited behavior in Iraq.

At a time when the nation has been focused on health care legislation, winter storms, and the post office hostage issue, our nation has lost a hero and will probably never realize it.

Retired Army Col. Robert L. Howard, a Medal of Honor winner and one of America’s most decorated soldiers, died Wednesday in Waco after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Howard was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Vietnam. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard (then Sfc .), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an American-Vietnamese platoon which was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam. The platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force. During the initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been wounded seriously and was exposed to fire. Although unable to walk, and weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first aid and removing the officer’s equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the ammunition pouches on the lieutenant’s belt, detonating several magazines of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing that he must rejoin the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the platoon area. Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy. For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard’s small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely. 1st Lt. Howard’s gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Howard has the distinction of being the only Soldier in our nation’s history to be nominated for the Medal of Honor for three separate events. The other two nominations were downgraded to a Silver Star and Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second and third highest awards for valor. He served FIVE tours in Vietnam.

Texas Governor Rick Perry today made the following statement regarding the passing of Colonel Robert L. Howard, one of America’s most decorated soldiers:

“As one of America’s most decorated veterans, Colonel Howard inspired everyone he met to consider their own commitment to our nation’s essential values, and was the bravest soldier I ever met. His unshakable commitment to freedom, displayed in countless episodes of battlefield gallantry, lives on in the actions of our military men and women who continue to serve in hostile conditions overseas. On behalf of all Texans, Anita and I extend our condolences and prayers to his family in their time of grieving.”

If you’re a reader, check out John Plaster’s book that includes Howard’s story, SOG: The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam.

Update: NBC News actually mentioned his passing and gave a little more information.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

h/t to This Ain’t Hell for the video link.

Terri Russell has an inspiring and heart-warming story up over at kolotv.com. I met Norris a few years ago when I was stationed near Walter Reed. I had the pleasure of taking him and his wife, Janis, to visit the Caisson platoon on Fort Myers while he was recovering. It was an awesome experience both for me and them. They are true horse lovers. Enjoy the story. I’ll have photos soon.

The emotional connection between people and their pets is undeniable.

Most of us go to great lengths to ensure our pets are healthy, happy and safe. Some will even travel 2300 miles one way. That’s the story behind one man’s search for a horse he let go ten years ago.

47 Year old Norris Galatas is an Army veteran of 27 years. Injured in Iraq four years ago, he spent most of that time at Walter Reed Hospital undergoing dozens of surgeries. During his stay, he had a lot to think about. More times than not those thoughts turned to his filly Sugar who he was convinced, needed to come back home to Mississippi.

“Take her home and she can be with her momma and her half sister,” says Norris.

It doesn’t get much farther away from Meridian Mississippi than the outskirts of Reno.

But Norris Galatas is on a mission, to find a horse he let go ten years ago. He raised her as a baby and has only ten year old pictures to go by.

“She hasn’t changed much, other than getting bigger and she looks just like her mother,” says Norris

His search for Sugar began in earnest two years ago, when he tracked her down to Northern Nevada. As fortune would have it, his friend P.J. Degross would just happen to live near Reno and help him make contact with the present owner.

“Happy to see him, friends forever, right?” says P.J

“Yep,” says Norris.

Norris traveled 23-hundred miles over the Thanksgiving weekend to pickup Sugar, sleeping on his army cot in the back of the trailer to save on expenses.

“Wyoming up in the mountains it was really cold, it got down to 12 degrees at night,” says Norris.

But all the miles and cold weather would melt away as he gets his first glimpse of the horse he’s waited years to re-connect with.

“That’s a good girl,” Norris says as he talks to Sugar.

“I think so yea,” Norris says when asked if he thinks the horse recognizes him.

“Yes it was worth it, I was about to cry, It’s so good to see her again, but she’s going to have a great life,”

Norris leads Sugar into the trailer he brought from Mississippi. Home is where they are headed.

Norris and Sugar are together once again. With Sugar’s babies, and Norris’s I.E.D injury, they will not doubt have a lot to talk about what’s transpired over the last ten years.