You know those mysterious firings of high ranking military officers?

This one is not so mysterious.

But just months later, Carey was disgraced. In October the Air Force fired him. Officials offered no details, saying only that the dismissal involved personal conduct. "The nuclear deterrence mission is one of great focus, discipline," Air Force spokesman Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick told the press. "Personal behavior is vital to that, especially from a commander."

Then, just before Christmas—a good time to bury this kind of unfortunate news—the Air Force released a detailed but redacted report detailing why Carey was fired. The report says he engaged in "inappropriate behavior" while on official business in Russia last summer, including heavy drinking and associating with "suspect women." And the details get much more sordid.

The report chronicles the binge day by day, and can be read in its entirety here. Members of a delegation reported that Carey was drunk virtually the entire trip, insulted the Russians with his comments and tardiness, tried to convince bar staff to allow him on stage to play guitar, and went out drinking with women he met in Moscow. No one testified that Carey was ever alone with the women. But the inference that he was drunk and talking about his work was enough to cast a deeper pall over the behavior. It's no secret that in Russia, attractive women and men have long been the route to spy on or blackmail American officials.

The women knew Gen. Carey was a big shot in the national security world because he told them so, according to members of the delegation. That sort of indiscretion sends up red flags in the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Carey himself submitted to the OSI the card of one woman he met who was working in his hotel's cigar shop, commenting on her suspicious nature: "A tobacco store lady talking about physics in the wee hours of the morning doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Underappreciated

According to the report, a booze-addled Carey was speaking loudly in a hotel lounge during the first night in Moscow about how he is "saving the world." Carey hit some of these notes in his final interview here at Popular Mechanics. "We keep a lid on World War III," Carey said then. "And for less than $5 billion a year. The U.S. Postal Service lost three times that in 2012."

When the General allegedly proclaims his importance while drinking, it can be a reflection of the insecurities of the larger force. Indeed, ICBM professionals often point out that they are underappreciated. During his PopMech interview, Cary also lamented the lack of attention and appreciation given to the missile launch crews and maintainers. "We use our missiles every day, but we don't launch them," he said. "The people who know this are our possible adversaries. The people who don't happen to be the same people who benefit the most from our existence."

During the Moscow trip, Carey also discussed low morale within his service and his attempts to raise it. "[A] Witness stated Maj. Gen. Carey was talking about the importance of his position and that his group had the worst morale and that the leadership wasn't supporting him." 

The Marine Corps Hat Story is Not True...

...according to Stars and Stripes.

Obama has enough trainwrecks. This is just a distraction from the ones that matter.

There is an awful lot of this happening.

Obama cashiers another general.

It's a developing pattern of this Obama White House.

Barack Obama cashiered yet another battle-seasoned American general Tuesday, even as the war in Afghanistan continues along with numerous other serious global threats to United States security.

This is the fourth senior officer Obama has forced from the country's service.

All four were tied somehow to the Afghanistan mess that Obama has long argued was the most important war. Each departure was staged as a resignation. They were usually tied to some personal indiscretions to save face for Obama, who would know of indiscretions as a product of the corrupt Chicago Democrat machine.

There was Gen. David McKiernan, the four-star who lead U.S. ground forces during the successful lightning Iraq invasion. He was asked to resign command of allied forces in Afghanistan just four months into Obama's presidency in 2009. Never fully explained, but the implication was administration dissatisfaction with the war's progress.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a special ops veteran who was McKiernan's successor. He resigned when his staff was quoted making derogatory comments to an embedded journalist about the administration in general and VP Joe Biden in particular. If mocking Megamind Biden is worthy of resignation, then most of America needs to step down by lunch today.

Gen. David Petraeus, the archictect of the surge and successful counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq, was demoted from Central Command to return to lead the Afghan war. After that successful tour Obama named him director of the Central Intelligence Agency, which required his military resignation after nearly four decades of service.

Obama and Biden were too busy to attend the traditional farewell ceremonies for such a general officer across town. But they were willing to let Petraeus take a large part of the fall for their unexplained absences during the 9/11 terror attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi and denied the consulate's repeated pleas for rescue.

Then somehow word got out that Petraeus, regularly rumored as a Republican presidential candidate someday, had an affair with his biographer. He "offered" to resign and, by golly, Obama felt he had to accept.

Now, comes Marine Gen. John Allen, the latest Afghan war commander. He did such a good job in that military quagmire that Obama named him to lead all U.S. and NATO forces in Europe. But then somehow word leaked that Allen had engaged in flirtatious e-mail exchanges with a married socialite in Tampa. A Pentagon investigation declined any misconduct charges.

Obama has also been knocking out the lower ranks as well.

Wasn't this Obama's plan from the beginning?

Right Turns writes:

Like the president he serves, Hagel appears to be a spectator in his own administration. He says things like: “If trends continue, we could ultimately be left with a much smaller force that is well-compensated but poorly trained and equipped. That would be unacceptable.” You wonder if any of the political appointees in this administration understand the import of what they are doing. The “trend” is of their own making, and the results may take years to undo.

What is missing from Hagel’s speech is any notion about how he is making the Pentagon better or addressing our threats more effectively. He can’t talk about that, you see, because all of this is about budget-cutting and not improving national security. He sounds like the OMB director, not the person in charge of the lion’s share of our national security apparatus. And hence the problem.//

I don't have a conspiracy theory for this...

....maybe there should be one.

Military cashiers 7th military commander for "loss of confidence."

The commander of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit was removed from his position on Wednesday, less than a week after the force’s subordinate units were first brought together to deploy in 2014, Marine officials said.

Col. James Christmas was relieved of command by Maj. Gen. Raymond Fox, the commander of II Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., after the general lost confidence in Christmas’ ability to continue commanding the Marines and sailors of the 22nd MEU,” said Capt. Binford Strickland, a Marine spokesman. No additional explanation was given for the decision.

“The II Marine Expeditionary Force is not a zero-defect organization, and the relief of a commander is never an easy decision,” Strickland said. “However, the commanding general decided this action was in the best interest of the Marines and sailors of the 22nd MEU and the Marine Corps.”

There was a similar spate of cashierings in the Navy over the last several yeas that have been as equally strange.

The impression I'm getting is that something is going on.


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20130718/CAREERS03/307180027/Commander-22nd-Marine-Expeditionary-Unit-relieved-command

"CNN and MSNBC ended their coverage of the speech before it was half-over."

That kind of tells you everything you need to know about the media and Obama, but here's the background:

President Barack Obama was greeted with fleeting applause and extended periods of silence as he offered profuse praise to soldiers and their families during an Aug. 31 speech in Fort Bliss, Texas.

His praise for the soldiers — and for his own national-security policies — won cheers from only a small proportion of the soldiers and families in the cavernous aircraft-hanger.

The audience remains quiet even when the commander-in-chief thanked the soldiers’ families, and cited the 198 deaths of their comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The audience’s reaction was so flat that the president tried twice to elicit a reaction from the crowd.

“Hey, I hear you,” he said amid silence.

The selected soldiers who were arrayed behind the president sat quietly throughout the speech.

The next big issue in Civil Rights will be whether "people with uteruses who do not identify as women" can serve on the USS Illinois.

Here is the story about the first all-women USN submarine.

And here is a post where a feminist begins to answer questions with the following disclaimer - and from their descends into utter confusion, narcissism and a philosphical system based on "I want it; give it to me":

Note from Dianna: I want to just put a general note of thanks here. I know Feminism is a really touchy topic, so I’m glad to see such an even-keeled discussion. That said, I do want to acknowledge that man and woman are categories that don’t necessarily correspond to biological sex. When I discuss “women” in, say, the abortion question, I also wish to include people with uteruses who do not identify as women. I’m aware that’s a point that many, many readers will not agree with, but Feminism is nothing if it is not intersectional.

"Intersectional"...right...because there is a suprising intersection beween people with uteruses and, well, people with uteruses.

"People with uteruses who do not identify as women" is going to become one of my favorite phrases, along with "people with uteruses who do identify as women."

Because nothing is more important to society as people feeling okay about their denial of reality.

Michelle Obama sponsors first all-female Navy sub.

Defcon Hill reports:

The USS Illinois, the first Navy submarine to be staffed by an all-female crew, received the support of the White House on Memorial Day.

On Monday, First Lady Michelle Obama officially sponsored the Virginia-class submarine, which will be one of the newest nuclear-powered boats scheduled to enter the fleet by 2015, according to a White House statement.

Because clearly the primary mission of the American military is to raise the self-esteem of women.

Update:

Thank God for the Professional Mainstream Media with its Fact-Checkers and Layers of Editors...

Apparently, the "all female" submarine was a mental lapse on the part of the reporter, fact-checker and editor:

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story mis-stated the crew of the USS Illinois would be all female. This story was updated at 10:52am to remove the error.

And that mistake happened because....?

And the weird thing is that it made not a ripple in the universe because, hey, who knows?, it could be true.