The SandGram

Burial at Sea by LtCol George Goodson, USMC (Ret)

*****UPDATE******* I just interviewed LtCol Goodson and the link is below, he is real, this story is real and he is my new Hero    ************UPDATE********

http://www.thesandgram.com/2009/12/22/internet-legend-ltcol-george-goodson-usmc-ret/

 I want to thank Nello Lucchesi for providing the link to this fantastic piece
Publisher: Marine Corps Association
Publication Name: Marine Corps Gazette
Subject: Military and naval science
ISSN: 0025-3170
Year: 2007

http://www.marinecorpsgazette-digital.com/marinecorpsgazette/200709/?pg=63

Burial at Sea” by LtCol George Goodson, USMC (Ret)

In my 76th year, the events of my life appear to me, from time to time, as a series of vignettes. Some were significant; most were trivial.

War is the seminal event in the life of everyone that has endured it. Though I fought in Korea and the Dominican Republic and was wounded there, Vietnam was my war.

Now 37 years have passed and, thankfully, I rarely think of those days in Cambodia , Laos , and the panhandle of North Vietnam where small teams of Americans and Montangards fought much larger elements of the North Vietnamese Army. Instead I see vignettes: some exotic, some mundane:
*The smell of Nuc Mam.
*The heat, dust, and humidity.
*The blue exhaust of cycles clogging the streets.
*Elephants moving silently through the tall grass.
*Hard eyes behind the servile smiles of the villagers.
*Standing on a mountain in Laos and hearing a tiger roar.
*A young girl squeezing my hand as my medic delivered her baby.
*The flowing Ao Dais of the young women biking down Tran Hung Dao.
*My two years as Casualty Notification Officer in North Carolina , Virginia , and Maryland .

It was late 1967. I had just returned after 18 months in Vietnam . Casualties were increasing. I moved my family from Indianapolis to Norfolk , rented a house, enrolled my children in their fifth or sixth new school, and bought a second car.

A week later, I put on my uniform and drove 10 miles to Little Creek, Virginia. I hesitated before entering my new office. Appearance is important to career Marines. I was no longer, if ever, a poster Marine. I had returned from my third tour in Vietnam only 30 days before. At 5’9″, I now weighed 128 pounds – 37 pounds below my normal weight. My uniforms fit ludicrously, my skin was yellow from malaria medication, and I think I had a twitch or two.

I straightened my shoulders, walked into the office, looked at the nameplate on a Staff Sergeant’s desk and said, “Sergeant Jolly, I’m Lieutenant Colonel Goodson. Here are my orders and my Qualification Jacket.”

Sergeant Jolly stood, looked carefully at me, took my orders, stuck out his hand; we shook and he asked, “How long were you there, Colonel?” I replied “18 months this time.” Jolly breathed, “Jesus, you must be a slow learner Colonel.” I smiled.

Jolly said, “Colonel, I’ll show you to your office and bring in the Sergeant Major. I said, “No, let’s just go straight to his office.”
Jolly nodded, hesitated, and lowered his voice, “Colonel, the Sergeant Major. He’s been in this G*dd@mn job two years. He’s packed pretty tight. I’m worried about him.” I nodded.

Jolly escorted me into the Sergeant Major’s office. “Sergeant Major, this is Colonel Goodson, the new Commanding Office. The Sergeant Major stood, extended his hand and said, “Good to see you again, Colonel.” I responded, “Hello Walt, how are you?” Jolly looked at me, raised an eyebrow, walked out, and closed the door.

I sat down with the Sergeant Major. We had the obligatory cup of coffee and talked about mutual acquaintances. Walt’s stress was palpable.
Finally, I said, “Walt, what’s the h-ll’s wrong?” He turned his chair, looked out the window and said, “George, you’re going to wish you were back in Nam before you leave here.. I’ve been in the Marine Corps since 1939. I was in the Pacific 36 months, Korea for 14 months, and Vietnam for 12 months. Now I come here to bury these kids. I’m putting my letter in. I can’t take it anymore.” I said, “OK Walt. If that’s what you want, I’ll endorse your request for retirement and do what I can to push it through Headquarters Marine Corps.”

Sergeant Major Walt Xxxxx retired 12 weeks later. He had been a good Marine for 28 years, but he had seen too much death and too much suffering. He was used up.

Over the next 16 months, I made 28 death notifications, conducted 28 military funerals, and made 30 notifications to the families of Marines that were severely wounded or missing in action. Most of the details of those casualty notifications have now, thankfully, faded from memory. Four, however, remain.

MY FIRST NOTIFICATION My third or fourth day in Norfolk , I was notified of the death of a 19 year old Marine. This notification came by telephone from Headquarters Marine Corps. The information detailed:
*Name, rank, and serial number.
*Name, address, and phone number of next of kin.
*Date of and limited details about the Marine’s death.
*Approximate date the body would arrive at the Norfolk Naval Air Station.
*A strong recommendation on whether the casket should be opened or closed.

The boy’s family lived over the border in North Carolina , about 60 miles away. I drove there in a Marine Corps staff car. Crossing the state line into North Carolina , I stopped at a small country store / service station / Post Office. I went in to ask directions.

Three people were in the store. A man and woman approached the small Post Office window. The man held a package. The Storeowner walked up and addressed them by name, “Hello John . Good morning Mrs. Cooper.”

I was stunned. My casualty’s next-of-kin’s name was John Cooper !

I hesitated, then stepped forward and said, “I beg your pardon. Are you Mr. and Mrs. John Copper of (address.)

The father looked at me-I was in uniform – and then, shaking, bent at the waist, he vomited. His wife looked horrified at him and then at me.
Understanding came into her eyes and she collapsed in slow motion. I think I caught her before she hit the floor.
The owner took a bottle of whiskey out of a drawer and handed it to Mr. Cooper who drank. I answered their questions for a few minutes. Then I drove them home in my staff car. The storeowner locked the store and followed in their truck. We stayed an hour or so until the family began arriving.

I returned the storeowner to his business. He thanked me and said, “Mister, I wouldn’t have your job for a million dollars.” I shook his hand and said; “Neither would I.”

I vaguely remember the drive back to Norfolk . Violating about five Marine Corps regulations, I drove the staff car straight to my house. I sat with my family while they ate dinner, went into the den, closed the door, and sat there all night, alone.

My Marines steered clear of me for days. I had made my first death notification.

THE FUNERALS Weeks passed with more notifications and more funerals.. I borrowed Marines from the local Marine Corps Reserve and taught them to conduct a military funeral: how to carry a casket, how to fire the volleys and how to fold the flag.

When I presented the flag to the mother, wife, or father, I always said, “All Marines share in your grief.” I had been instructed to say, “On behalf of a grateful nation.” I didn’t think the nation was grateful, so I didn’t say that.

Sometimes, my emotions got the best of me and I couldn’t speak. When that happened, I just handed them the flag and touched a shoulder.
They would look at me and nod. Once a mother said to me, “I’m so sorry you have this terrible job.” My eyes filled with tears and I leaned over and kissed her.

ANOTHER NOTIFICATION Six weeks after my first notification, I had another. This was a young PFC. I drove to his mother’s house. As always, I was in uniform and driving a Marine Corps staff car. I parked in front of the house, took a deep breath, and walked towards the house. Suddenlythe door flew open, a middle-aged woman rushed out. She looked at me and ran across the yard, screaming “NO! NO! NO! NO!”

I hesitated. Neighbors came out. I ran to her, grabbed her, and whispered stupid things to reassure her. She collapsed. I picked her up and carried her into the house. Eight or nine neighbors followed. Ten or fifteen later, the father came in followed by ambulance personnel. I have no recollection of leaving.

The funeral took place about two weeks later. We went through the drill. The mother never looked at me. The father looked at me once and shook his head sadly.

ANOTHER NOTIFICATION One morning, as I walked in the office, the phone was ringing. Sergeant Jolly held the phone up and said, “You’ve got another one, Colonel.” I nodded, walked into my office, picked up the phone, took notes, thanked the officer making the call, I have no idea why, and hung up. Jolly, who had listened, came in with a special Telephone Directory that translates telephone numbers into the person’s address and place of employment.

The father of this casualty was a Longshoreman. He lived a mile from my office. I called the Longshoreman’s Union Office and asked for the Business Manager. He answered the phone, I told him who I was, and asked for the father’s schedule.

The Business Manager asked, “Is it his son?” I said nothing. After a moment, he said, in a low voice, “Tom is at home today.” I said, “Don’t call him. I’ll take care of that.” The Business Manager said, “Aye, Aye Sir,” and then explained, “Tom and I were Marines in WWII.”

I got in my staff car and drove to the house. I was in uniform. I knocked and a woman in her early forties answered the door. I saw instantly that she was clueless. I asked, “Is Mr. Smith home?” She smiled pleasantly and responded, “Yes, but he’s eating breakfast now. Can you come back later?” I said, “I’m sorry. It’s important, I need to see him now.”

She nodded, stepped back into the beach house and said, “Tom, it’s for you.”

A moment later, a ruddy man in his late forties, appeared at the door. He looked at me, turned absolutely pale, steadied himself, and said, “Jesus Christ man, he’s only been there three weeks!”

Months passed. More notifications and more funerals. Then one day while I was running, Sergeant Jolly stepped outside the building and gave a loud whistle, two fingers in his mouth…. I never could do that… and held an imaginary phone to his ear.

Another call from Headquarters Marine Corps. I took notes, said, “Got it.” and hung up. I had stopped saying “Thank You” long ago.

Jolly, “Where?”

Me, “Eastern Shore of Maryland . The father is a retired Chief Petty Officer. His brother will accompany the body back from Vietnam .”

Jolly shook his head slowly, straightened, and then said, “This time of day, it’ll take three hours to get there and back. I’ll call the Naval Air Station and borrow a helicopter. And I’ll have Captain Tolliver get one of his men to meet you and drive you to the Chief’s home.”

He did, and 40 minutes later, I was knocking on the father’s door. He opened the door, looked at me, then looked at the Marine standing at parade rest beside the car, and asked, “Which one of my boys was it, Colonel?”
I stayed a couple of hours, gave him all the information, my office and home phone number and told him to call me, anytime.

He called me that evening about 2300 (11:00PM). “I’ve gone through my boy’s papers and found his will. He asked to be buried at sea. Can you make that happen?” I said, “Yes I can, Chief. I can and I will.”

My wife who had been listening said, “Can you do that?” I told her, “I have no idea. But I’m going to break my ass trying.”

I called Lieutenant General Alpha Bowser, Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, at home about 2330, explained the situation, and asked, “General, can you get me a quick appointment with the Admiral at Atlantic Fleet Headquarters?” General Bowser said,” George, you be there tomorrow at 0900. He will see you.

I was and the Admiral did.. He said coldly, “How can the Navy help the Marine Corps, Colonel.” I told him the story. He turned to his Chief of Staff and said, “Which is the sharpest destroyer in port?” The Chief of Staff responded with a name.

The Admiral called the ship, “Captain, you’re going to do a burial at sea. You’ll report to a Marine Lieutenant Colonel Goodson until this mission is completed.”

He hung up, looked at me, and said, “The next time you need a ship, Colonel, call me. You don’t have to sic Al Bowser on my ass.” I responded, “Aye Aye, Sir” and got the h-ll out of his office.

I went to the ship and met with the Captain, Executive Officer, and the Senior Chief. Sergeant Jolly and I trained the ship’s crew for four days.
Then Jolly raised a question none of us had thought of. He said, “These government caskets are air tight. How do we keep it from floating?”

All the high priced help including me sat there looking dumb. Then the Senior Chief stood and said, “Come on Jolly. I know a bar where the retired guys from World War II hang out.”

They returned a couple of hours later, slightly the worst for wear, and said, “It’s simple; we cut four 12″ holes in the outer shell of the casket on each side and insert 300 lbs of lead in the foot end of the casket. We can handle that, no sweat.”

The day arrived. The ship and the sailors looked razor sharp. General Bowser, the Admiral, a US Senator, and a Navy Band were on board. The sealed casket was brought aboard and taken below for modification. The ship got underway to the 12-fathom depth.

The sun was hot. The ocean flat. The casket was brought aft and placed on a catafalque. The Chaplin spoke. The volleys were fired. The flag was removed, folded, and I gave it to the father. The band played “Eternal Father Strong to Save.” The casket was raised slightly at the head and it slid into the sea.

The heavy casket plunged straight down about six feet. The incoming water collided with the air pockets in the outer shell. The casket stopped abruptly, rose straight out of the water about three feet, stopped, and slowly slipped back into the sea. The air bubbles rising from the sinking casket sparkled in the in the sunlight as the casket disappeared from sight forever.

The next morning I called a personal friend, Lieutenant General Oscar Peatross, at Headquarters Marine Corps and said, “General, get me the f*ck out of here. I can’t take this sh_t anymore.” I was transferred two weeks later.

I was a good Marine but, after 17 years, I had seen too much death and too much suffering. I was used up.

Vacating the house, my family and I drove to the office in a two-car convoy. I said my goodbyes. Sergeant Jolly walked out with me. He waved at my family, looked at me with tears in his eyes, came to attention, saluted, and said, “Well Done, Colonel. Well Done.”

I felt as if I had received the Medal of Honor!

That is all

s/f

Tags: Burial at Sea, George Goodson, Lt Col George Goodson USMC (Ret)

Prison trip in the news

Well gang,
I was told to keep this under the radar somewhat and now I think we may be able to talk about it soon. Read these articles that were on Yahoo and the front page of the NY times… pretty cool huh? Hanging with a team that is making history. More to come.
s/f
Taco
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/world/asia/20detain.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090720/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_military_afghan_prisons

Afghan marriage law still oppressive, activists say

Proposed revisions faulted as offering too little change

Associated Press
By Heidi Vogt
July 14, 2009
KABUL

Activists yesterday rejected proposed revisions to Afghanistan’s marriage law, calling the new version just as oppressive as the original, which critics say legalized marital rape.

President Hamid Karzai signed the law in March but quickly suspended enforcement after governments around the world condemned it.

Though the law applied only to minority Shi’ites, critics saw it as a return to Taliban-style oppression of women by a government that was supposed to be promoting democracy and human rights.

The changes, which are not yet approved by Parliament, would delete sections that said a woman needs her husband’s permission to leave the house and must be ready for sex at least every four days. In a letter to the president, activists said other parts would change so little that the law is still unacceptable.

Issues such as polygamy and a woman’s right to work and to refuse sex have been addressed only with “slight changes in the wordings of the law, rather than changes in content,” the letter states.

The section about submitting to sex every four days was deleted, but other sections let a husband order sex, said Shinkai Kharokhel, a lawmaker involved in attempts to change the legislation.

A section explaining a husband must provide financially for his wife also says he can withhold support if she refuses to “submit to her husband’s reasonable sexual enjoyment,” according to Human Rights Watch.

That’s equivalent to saying a husband can starve his wife if she refuses to have sex, Kharokhel said.

Most Afghan women “are illiterate and they don’t have financial security and no one will give her money . . . shelter, medical, food, all these expenses belong to the man, and he can hold that back,” she said.

The revised law would also restrict a woman’s right to leave the house and to work, she said.

Even so, Kharokhel said, deletion of some of the most controversial articles showed the government was trying to address women’s rights.

She said she hopes there will be further revisions proposed.

It is a view seconded by other activists. Wazhma Frogh, who works with a human rights group called Global Rights and was one of the drafters of the letter, said the proposed deletions of some restrictions “shows their support for women’s rights issues.”

Frogh said the letter was agreed to by more than 50 civil society groups, though no group signed it by name.

She said signatures were not omitted out of fear, but with the idea that the missive should be seen as representing Afghan women, rather than a few groups in Kabul.

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The Sandgram is on Twitter

Dear Gang,
I have been remiss in writing lately, but will pick up the pace. I have joined Twitter, so please log on and list me on your twitter to find out the latest.
Semper Fi,
Taco
http://twitter.com/TheSandgram

Tags: leading Marines, thesandgram, twitter

“Show me the money”

“Show me the Money”
Guys,
Because my Team is still deployed for another week or so in Afghanistan, I can’t write about the prisons just yet due to Opsec. I will let them come home, and then we’ll talk about the corrections system. I promise that it will be interesting. A lot of you have emailed me asking about my last post on June 17th. I would like to clarify it, so let’s just say I don’t want to hurt the support of our troops, but I would like to see the revamping of how some businesses do business.

What is the purpose of a non-profit organization? I was under the impression that a non-profit business consisted of volunteers who gave their valuable time to promoting a cause thus allowing the meager funds to be best utilized in the most efficient manner. I had no idea there are so many out there that are taking advantage of honest hard working folks out there in the US.

There are numerous “non-profits” in existence throughout the US and with the war going on for so many years now, some have been created that help out our men and women in uniform which is a good thing. Some unfortunately have succumbed to outright dishonesty like this article from the Washington Post written by Ann Tyson. The National Veterans Business Development Corp. (TVC) was formed in 1999 to help returning Vets start up a small business. They instead squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars living the good life as they travelled in first class and stayed in the finest hotels as they wined and dined their way through the years. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003984.html
Sometimes, these things start with a well intentioned idea to help folks out and they thrive with the aid of thousands of volunteers around the country and sometimes around the world. I am going to give you a crash course on what to look for before you part with your hard earned money to a charity that may not be what it appears to be. First all, most of the good non profits I have seen are .org’s and not .com’s, second they post their 990’s on the website for your viewing. If they don’t post it and you have to request a copy, then ask why? What do they have to hide?

What is a 990 you ask? That is the tax form they must submit to Uncle Sam, that breaks down what they have made, what they spent donor money on and lots of other things. The company is required to provide you a copy of this document if you ask for it. I had to get a lesson from my parents, who through their years involved with non-profits were able to show me details that I didn’t notice just looking at the form for the first time. The form breaks down into about eleven different sections. Part one will show you right off the bat how much money they took in through donations or sales and down on line 25, you can see how much they list as compensation for current officers, key employees. Something to keep in mind, if they pay a person under 50K, they don’t have to list them. This will give you a rough idea where your money is going. Let’s say a company brought in $700K from the generosity of the general public and you notice that they paid out $105K in salaries in line 25, you might say, “well that’s not too bad on overhead, they must have a bunch of people there” but then you go to the next line and see on number 26 that they paid 139K to the employees which comes up to around $244K total. Going further, if you look at how much they paid in payroll taxes and say it’s about $19,000 dollars, how much money are they paying taxes on? The owner of the business pays .0765% and the employee pays .0765% so it would be an unknown amount X’s .0765 which will give you how much they are claiming. In this case around $244K went JUST TO SALARIES for as it turns out say three or four people, not including overhead of computers, office equipment, space (their house in most cases), fundraising, travel expenses, consultant’s fee’s etc.

Section five A will show you the key employee’s and the board of directors, how many hours they say they work for the company and what their compensation is. That is where you will find out if the President takes any compensation for his/her work. Looking at some of these organizations out there, you might find that the President makes around $100K or more. This is where I have a problem with giving money to those types of Non Profits…it just goes to filling their bank account. See, in some states like Maryland, a Non Profit is only required to give 10% of the money coming in to the charity and the other 90% can go to overhead, i.e. salaries, bonuses, expenses and the likes.

That is why they have a board of Directors; they are financially responsible for the direction of the corporation and to ensure that things are done right. Sometimes, it just works out that the President of the Non Profit has been doing VERY well for his family and doesn’t see the necessity of change to be not only legally responsible but ethically as well. I think that if I lose my job at the airlines, I will start up my own nonprofit outfit and that will be my business.

So for all the folks out there who want to support the troops, please do some research before you open your kind wallets and give those hard earned bucks to a company that may be using it for the betterment of their life. Watch out for the cries of “If you don’t contribute, we will have to shut down our site and you won’t be able to connect with a service member in the field.” Here are some tips if you are thinking about giving.

Is the Charity registered with the State that it was formed?
What is the full name, address and phone number of the charity?
Is your contribution tax deductible? House raffles are not by the way…
What percentage of its total income does the charity spend on its charitable purpose? What does it spend on overhead, i.e. salaries, computers, fundraising, office equipment/furniture etc?
What is the mission statement of the company and do they actually follow it?
How many employees do they have? Are they all family members or related by marriage? If they are spending a ton of money in overhead, you can figure out if they are spreading the wealth of your money or it’s going for just a couple of folks.
Donors are entitled by law to get a copy of the 990 and financial statement at no cost within 30 days.
Go to places like Charity Navigator to see their ratings. Beware of some companies that basically sell a rating to a smaller business and if you can’t find them on Charity Navigator, it may because they don’t take in enough money.

If you have any questions or I can help you out, please feel free to email me.
Semper Fi,
Taco

Tags: charities, fraud, non-profits, Support the troops

Happy Father’s Day!

My Dad’s early father’s day gift

On a side note, Happy Fathers day out there to the dad’s in Cyberland! I had to spend about a week up at the Navy Annex putting together meetings for the General over in Kabul. This involved talking on the Tandberg VTC with my new best friend, Major Bess over in the Joint Vistor’s Bureau, and doing follow up on weapons and gear for the team of ten heading over to Afghanistan. My folks live not too far from the Navy Annex in Alexandria, so it was a rare treat to spend more than 10 hours there like I would for a layover with my airline.

My Dad’s new project was repainting the house since Mom had the front porch remodeled to a bright white décor. Dad had painted the house in yellow trim to match the yellow siding that was put on the back of house when they built an addition in the early 80’s. Dad, who was in the Navy, loved the ocean and fast boats, was afraid of heights, and wasn’t looking forward to having to repaint the upper windows of the house. As a guest for a week, and saving Uncle Sam the cost of a hotel room in DC, I had to repay this great American for his slaving over the grill each night to prepare us a meal and giving me my old room back. So, to help out, after work I would climb up the ladder and scrape the old paint off and start painting primer on top of the old yellow paint. This involved taking the storm windows out so that I didn’t paint them shut in the process, sore feet from the ladder and lots of sweat.

I enjoyed it though, Ipod on, paint brush in hand, it was just like being a kid again and helping out around the house. My folks went away for that weekend so I really poured on the coals to the project after my day at the office was complete. By the time they returned, I had most of the hard work done and my Dad and I spent another 8 hours painting the shutters and then hanging them. I had to leave for Afghanistan before I could help with some other windows, but they were low and Dad attacked them on the step ladder with ease. He was very happy with the results of our project and I’m happy to have helped him out. So Dad, Happy Fathers day! I love you and I’m glad you are not up on the ladder…

My vacation back to Afghanistan part one

I have written very little since I returned from Afghanistan last November and part of that has been due to my disappointment over how certain “Non-Profit” support the troops companies are really a “For-Profit” making a tidy income. This will be a post for later, I think folks should know where their money goes when they donate out of good faith for the troops and I wonder if they would condone salaries of up to and over 100K? This makes my blood boil as I sit over in Afghanistan writing this.

I will have to shift back to my new story that has unfolded over the last month. I had just returned from a trip down in St. Maarten when there was a message from a buddy of mine, who was now the Strategic Communications officer for MajGen Doug Stone. When I called him up, mind you this was around May 12th, the small chat turned to his next tasker; put together a trip to Afghanistan for an assessment of their prison systems. Well, as the boss calls it, “Cops, Courts and Corrections” which is a huge task considering that Afghanistan is in solar year 1388 (which they use for their calendar) , and folks they are still 100 years from Columbus sailing to the America’s if you know what I mean. They are caught in the Stone Age with minor thrusts of the 21st century imposed on them. As you sit in your air conditioned house with running water and bathrooms trying to decide if you will go eat out tonight, they are living in mud huts and crapping out in a field for their bathroom. When you fly out of the major cities, you see thousands of Nomads and their camels settled along the landscape as they wander around the countryside. It’s just one of those things that you can’t understand until you experience it. Film doesn’t do a good job either since you aren’t able to get the smells along with it. Raw and stagnate sewage is so over powering that it makes your stomach convulse and as the fly’s attack the moist spots on your face (eyes and mouth) all you can think of, are the various diseases they carry. When you leave the main streets in your convoys, you drive through little canals of waste where kids are playing ball or tossing rocks at each other.

Tim called me up because I had just spent my last tour attached to the US Embassy in Kabul as the liaison to Camp Eggers for the ANP program. I still had a lot of connections there at the Embassy for the Rule of Law (ROL), prisons, corrections and many other programs. He had many questions about the local place and after giving him a guided tour on Google earth of downtown Kabul, I did something illogical to my liberal relatives I’m sure, but understandable to those who know me and support me. I volunteered to be his advance party over to Afghanistan, coordinating the meetings, schedule, travel, billeting, transpo etc. He wanted me to come up to DC in less then a week so after asking the boss (my beautiful wife) if I could go on a month long vacation with travel over to Afghanistan, I told Tim, “If you can cut me orders, get funding, ticket, country clearance, weapons, 782 gear in a week, I’ll go.” This is the Marine Corps we are talking about and a slow moving dinosaur at that, I truly believed that they couldn’t make this happen. Four days later, I had my orders, ticket, funding and off I went to the Navy Annex to start the planning of this monster trip.

The first thing you have to remember is that billeting is very hard to get over here. Transpo even harder and communications the hardest. There is a saying “Everything is hard in Afghanistan” and by that, I mean, nothing is made easy. NOTHING! So to take a group of 12 over to visit different prisons, PRT’s (Provincial Reconstruction Teams) Ministers, and all the different briefs he needs to make a proper assessment was a daunting task. I stayed in DC for about a week putting together a four week journey for the group and getting on the VTC daily with my connection over in ISAF JVB (Joint Visitors Bureau.)

The nice thing was that I stayed at “Hotel Bell” (my folk’s house) right down the street from my new office and was able to help paint part of the house in the high spots for my Dad who is afraid of heights. So, you will note that my folks saved the Taxpayers a ton of money by this move!

More to come, I have to allow someone else, computer time.
Semper Fi,
Taco

Tags: Afghanistan, Corrections, Embassy, Kabul, MajGen Doug Stone

Happy Memorial Day

Hey guys,
I took a walk through Arlington Cemetery today and paid my repects to my sister who is there and LtCol James A Michener, my Marine Mentor. I’d like to thank all the folks who took the time to plant the little flags on all the graves there and across the nation. We are a nation protected by the few and proud.
Semper Fi,
Taco

Taking care of a Vet and fellow Marine

Dear Gang,
A few days ago, driving home from my daughters school, I stop by our small neighborhood watch office to chat with Dan our local Police officer.  He’s a retired Army LtCol and one helluva a cop to have one our side protecting us.  He rotated the computer screen he was working on to show me a report on a man that was taken to the hospital that morning having suffered a stroke. This man lived downed the street from me and when I saw his name, Richard Shaw, I gasped since he was a fellow Marine, a Vietnam Veteran and retired Police Officer.  The initial report was that he was hit by a car and left for dead in his yard, but as they investigated, it looked like he had a stroke, fell down hurting himself and then disoriented passed out in the yard next to the street and wasn’t found until the morning, a very sad way to go for a man as great as Richard was.

I went walking two days later and saw his garage door open so I stop by to see how he was.  His brother in law, George, informed me that Richard had passed away at the hospital.  I was floored.  He had just stop by my house a week prior asking me if he should accept a contracting job over in Iraq working with the Iraqi police. We talked about it for an hour or more before he jumped on his Harley and took off again.

The local Marines in the neighborhood are going to be pallbearers for the funeral this Tuesday.  How is this for representation? A retired three star Marine General, a LtCol reserve guy (me) , a retired Gunny and former Cpl?  We have all split bread, cut the birthday cake together during November 10th celebrations at the local bar and just been great friends through our association in the Corps.  Vets taking care of Vets.  I came across this great piece by Patricia Salwei  on Vets that I thought I should share. Please pass it on.  Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.
Semper Fi,
Taco

Please do not honor Congressman Murtha

 

This has just hit the streets, please go to this site and sign up.  I don’t normally send out things asking for you to sign up but feel this is important!!

http://www.petitiononline.com/usmc2009/petition.html

To:  Secretary of the Navy

On March 5, 2009 Congressman John Murtha was awarded the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award by the Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter. From the press release: It is the highest form of public service recognition bestowed by the Department of the Navy for a non-employee. According to the Department, nominations for this award will be limited to those extraordinary cases where individuals have demonstrated exceptionally outstanding service of substantial and long term benefit to the Navy, Marine Corps, or as Department of the Navy as a whole.

The Citation reads:
Congressman Murtha’s selfless devotion to the Nation’s Sailors and Marines ensured they were provided the resources necessary to effectively conduct the Global War on Terrorism. His courageous leadership, vision, and loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy greatly contributed to their quality of life and helped create the most modern and highly trained fighting force in history. As Chairman of Subcommittee on Defense of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Murtha’s tireless advocacy helped maintain the Navy and Marine Corps team at the highest levels of combat readiness to meet the challenges of the 21st century. With grateful appreciation for his outstanding contributions to the Nation and the Navy and Marine Corps, Congressman Murtha is awarded the Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award.

John Murtha deserves no such award. He has routinely and deliberately undermined the United States military, slandered servicemen serving in combat, and caused irreparable damage to our international reputation. While serving as a Representative from Pennsylvania, Murtha called Marines from 3d Battalion, 1st Marines “cold blooded killers” who “murdered innocent civilians.” Before an investigation into the Haditha incident was even conducted, Murtha went on numerous television news programs and announced that the Marines “went into houses and killed women and children.” He said, “There’s no question in my mind about what happened here. There was no gunfire, they killed four people in a taxi…24 people were killed.” When asked specifically if he claimed that innocent civilians were intentionally executed by Marines, he said, “That’s exactly what happened.” Not content to slander those Marines directly involved, he went on to claim that if these Marines were not punished, “other Marines would say well I’ll do the same thing.” Murtha then continued to use this incident to lobby for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, citing it as evidence that our military was incapable of winning the war.

Eight Marines were originally charged. As of March 17th, 2009 all charges were dropped against six Marines, one was found not guilty on all counts in courts martial. The prosecution has delayed the court martial of the final defendant indefinitely. The original allegations of a massacre and the statements of Congressman Murtha have been thoroughly discredited. Despite the facts, John Murtha refuses to apologize to those he slandered.

We the undersigned are appalled that the Secretary of the Navy would bestow the Department’s highest award for a non-employee to John Murtha after his vile and despicable attacks against U.S. servicemen. This petition is a vehicle to express our bitter disappointment at this betrayal of our combat veterans. Congressman John Murtha should apologize for slandering the Marines of 3/1, and for undermining the efforts of those servicemen and women who fought in Iraq. If he does not, the Secretary of the Navy should rescind this award as a sign of his unwavering support for those who served in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned