The SandGram

The Emperor has no clothes on…

Yes, I am considered to be a “MilKook” set by the standards of Michael Yon and not to be taken seriously, for my 25 years of experience as a Marine mean nothing I guess.  It is for that reason I have sat back with a bag of popcorn and watched with a small amused grin as Michael Yon, the war reporter, has basically imploded online without any outside help.  It’s a trainwreck that you are watching with no end as it tumbles over the cliff, banging along the side of the valley with little pieces falling off while Yon as the conductor blows his horn to no avail.

See, for over two years now, he has attacked friends of mine and for no reason except to drum up support for his missions (theory among many as to why this happens in cycles).  I really enjoyed his writings years ago and we even traded emails about things once in awhile back when I returned from Iraq in ’06.  Like a divorce, you have to take sides on what friends you keep and I chose CJ Grisham when Yon took it on as a mission to defame and attack him.  CJ is a friend who has had dinner at my house, he is the quintessential gentlemen/professional Soldier and has gone through some personal rough spots and persevered.  He is not one to back down from a fight but due to accusations made by MY, he has had to endure a preliminary investigation over a perceived written threat to MY’s life.  It was a low thing to do in my opinion to a man currently deployed.

Then Michael Yon has his Facebook page, which if you are not with him, then you are against him and banned from leaving comments which is fine, it’s his page. The question that comes to mind is “if you are a reporter and believe in freedom of speech, why don’t you let the opposing view be heard?”

If people want to express… say a concern about where donations are going and what they are paying for, then they should have the chance to find out right?  I wonder if you have to pay taxes over in Thailand? Do you have to pay taxes on donations from the states while you live out of country as well? HHHhhhmmmmmm….

I guess that doesn’t matter, let’s get back to the popcorn.  The other day MY did another post about arming Helicopters and taking the Red Cross off of them in combat (an incident that happened two years ago).  He went on a crusade with an open letter to the White house to have this acted upon.

His post was picked up by Professional Soldiers.com, (P.S.)  http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35602  a site made up of vetted Special Forces both current and past.  Some were peers of Yon’s during his brief time in SF and some were admitted readers of his old stuff.  The fireworks went off when one of Michael’s fans sent him the link to this topic and Yon decided to weigh in on the situation.  It went down hill fast and honestly, I’m not sure I would have had the patience these Gents gave him.  They were calm, cool and well the “Quiet Professional’s” that they are.  Let’s just say it was a death of a thousand cuts as they diced him apart on the website, maybe eviscerated is a better addition to what happened.  Hand to hand combat is not the only thing they teach at SF “Q” course because these gents were armed with a pen and paper (well computer) and Jesus do they know how to use their skills!!

It didn’t end there.  Saturday night I came home from our Marine Corps Birthday Ball to see that MY had posted accusations against SF soldiers saying that he had proof of a murder cover up from 2005 that he never let go and was preparing to release it now in light of the SF assault on him at P.S. which was pretty devastating.  Now I’m thinking “if you had proof and didn’t release it, would that make you an accessory after the fact?” I’d have to consult with my attorney on those finer points, never the less he threw that out there.  The funny thing is there must have been a power outage over in Thailand for a couple of hours (flood maybe?)  because he didn’t reply to any of the comments left by SF Soldiers or others who questioned him about this stuff.  I mean this went on for hours.  I had to hit the rack and by morning time most of the negative stuff was deleted and new folks banned from his facebook page which looked like swiss cheese.  By that time the cat was out of the bag, other sites started to notice the meltdown and lossof control from Michael and here too, along with these guys…oh wait…more

This Ain’t Hell, JP at Milblogging, AR-15.com, Army Rats, Assolute Tranquillita, Shadow Spear

I think he has experienced some things in his time over in the war as a reporter that may be causing these sudden irrational bouts of anger against the PAOs and Generals over the past few years.  What he needs to see is that by pissing off these same PAOs and Generals, his chances of getting embedded again grow very slim.  By that token, the SF group, his former “peers” for a lack of better word, have now made him “Persona Non Grata” and I’m betting there are letters being written as I type, asking Military officials to revoke any chances of his being embedded again.

Michael, if you are offended by this post, I apologize.  Someone has to tell the Emperor that he has no clothes on…

Semper Fi,

Taco

Tags: CJ Grisham, Michael Yon, Michael Yon Meltdown, MilKooks, Professional Soldiers, Quiet Professionals, SF