Posted on 11/05/2009 7:58:38 PM PST by SwaggerStick
More intriguing to me than the story behind an unhinged Muslin is how in the hell a General could stand before America and deal out so much misinformation – there was only one shooter who had two pistols, he was shot dead and the person who shot the shooter was also shot dead.
Now I know why so many of our young are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our Generals don’t know their asses from their elbows. One would expect miss information from civilians, but hearing it from seasoned military people who are very accustomed to battle is amazing.
When you have a General who lacks the common sense to realize there is no way in hell one man with two pistols could kill 11 and wound 31 you have a General who will lead our soldiers to slaughter.
Not only was the General dead wrong with his information, his second press conference was hours late with only a passing mention of him being tardy.
I served 3 years in the Army and 4 years in the Air Force, all I can say is I hope to hell we never face off with Russia or China with Generals like this.
No, I am not from India. I am a native Californian and Natural Born Citizen just following my outsourced job.
So can you carry where you live?
No. Not in Milpitas, not in Manila, not in Bangalore.
It makes me very nervous. At least when I was Philippines I had a dog for protection (and Mrs. Altair can carry).
Oh excuuuuuuse me for not seeing the word “station” anywhere in your post.
You’re right, i don’t know what a station is. Since you wrote “base” so much, I thought you were talking about a reserve base. We were stationed mostly at reserve bases, same rules about the weapons.
Heck, how would I know that your experience is different than everyone else’s and your step father was allowed to do what no one else is allowed to do.
This is serious hugh ...
My exact words were reserve center. It is not a Reserve Base, again you didn't read what was written, and wrote a bunch of incorrect information in response.
You attempting to spin what I have written as something incorrect is laughable.
Again, people who don't know what they don't know.
My Stepfather was stationed at the US Naval recruiting office in Pittsburgh, 4902 Forbes Avenue, 15213 for a tour. Just so happens this tour coincided with a little thing called the Gulf War. Leading up to the actual invasion and during the war they were actually put on alert, because terrorism was a real and recognized and feared threat against such soft targets and yes folks were carrying in those offices during that time.
Were they their military issued weapons or personal sidearms, I can't say, I can only tell you that I can tell you without question there were people in those offices with sidearms every time I was in those offices while he was stationed there.
I never once denied base procedures, you incorrectly read and assumed. I stated while he was stationed on bases he worked in the clinics and of all the times I spent visiting those clinics I can't recall a time where there wasn't at least one armed person in the facility. MP's were constantly in and out of the clinics for one reason or another, I highly doubt that any were formally posted to "protect" the clinics, but there was always at least one in there for one reason or another.
Again, I didn’t take into account that your second hand military experience flies in the face of everything anyone else knows. My poor experience of decades bows to your greater knowledge of step daddy’s service.
Everyone else? Really? And who is your “everyone else”?
You have stated base procedures, which I have never debated or denied. I have only stated the observation that my time in clinics on various marine bases around the country I can’t recall being in one where an armed MP wasn’t on the grounds for one reason or another.
You seem to take this as some sort of personal assault, that I dare make such a statement.
You certainly haven’t offered any “others” to state that non base procedures at soft targets at times of war are or were the same as on base procedures.
Bases have a perimeter, keep the parimeter protected and the presumption is the interior is as safe as it can get. Recruitment centers are literally office, someones in shared buildings, sometimes dedicated buildings. The one in particular that I provided you is actually right on a major road, and beside an urban university campus, and down the street from another that have thousands of foreign students. I can’t tell you if folks in those offices are wearing sidearms today, because I haven’t been in there in a long long time, I can only tell folks were at that time. Personally I hope folks that work in those offices daily are indeed carrying because unlike the PC nonsense that says otherwise, they are a nice soft target for Ahmed if he decides to go for it.
I haven’t denied a single fact you have bothered to offer, I have only stated what my personal experience has been, yet you continue to act as though what you “know” undermines my experiences, and I must be making them out of whole cloth.
Attempts at mockery while they may make you feel better, don’t bolster your argument in the least, nor do they invalidate mine. Its clear you know what you don’t know.. or at least think you do, so further conversation is pointless.
if so...shame on those who knew and if so...there are 13 dead and 31 wounded. Shame on ALL who knew if they did and then did NOTHING so as to be Politically Correct.
Non-Sequitur,
Thanks very much for the promotion to Lieutenant General, I left the Air Force in 1967 as an Airman First Class.
You asked how would Lieutenant General SwaggerStick have done better?
The essence of my post was about the miss information the General disseminated to the American public (shooter dead and the hero who shot the shooter also dead). I am also upset with the General’s apparent arrogance of being 3 hours tardy with his scheduled press meeting.
I was apparently greatly mistaken about the capability of one shooter with two pistols doing such damage to seasoned troops. For that I apologize, but I still remain baffled.
Here is what I would have done different:
There is no excuse for a General disseminating errant information. No doubt the General obtained the errant information from his staff members. No doubt the General was greatly embarrassed when he found out the shooter was still alive. More than embarrassed, the General was probably greatly pissed off at his staff for providing him the miss information.
I’m sure the reason the General was 3 hours tardy with the second news conference was he was going to make damn sure he had the facts straight before attending.
If I was that General I would have attended the second news conference as scheduled and then apologized to America for the miss information I disseminated in the first conference.
I would have then told America I was unable to continue this conference until I had all my shit in one bag.
I would have then made damn sure my staff did a real good job cleaning those grease traps while on KP over the next six months.
FWIW, in all the time I spent as a Brat, I don’t recall seeing anyone except on-duty MPs armed on base. (Unless you count the cannon and missiles on the F-8’s)...
You were a young boy at a RECRUITING OFFICE. LOL Nuff said.
Go reread what I have metioned, on base it was the MPs I was referring to, they were constantly at the clinics.
Yes, a young boy at 19 years old in that recruiting office regularly, who was obviously too foolish and young to know what a sidearm looked like, yea I must have mistaken it was probably just some cream cheese.
Again, mocking may make you feel better, but it certainly does not bolster your arguments.
And apparently a constant presence at the recruiting office as well.
The thing is, I don’t need to prove anything to you. Anyone who has been in the military or lived on base (as opposed to visiting recruiters office) can tell you what is up.
shaking head and laughing
I have been in and around military hospitals and medical facilities all my life. My father was in the Navy. I was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital. I joined the Navy right after college and served 20 years and now “enjoy” the medical facilities as a retiree. I have spent hours and hours sitting in cattle call rooms waiting for whatever I was thee for. No MPs, no civilian guards, no active duty guys packing heat. Just us bored schlubs waiting forever.
No doubt this could have been committed by a lone gunman,
I was stationed at Headquarters Navy Recruiting Command during the Gulf War. I was not aware of any order for recruiters to carry weapons. In my tour, I visited recruiting districts and recruiting stations on the east coast. I never saw any recruiter carrying weapons. Further, many of these offices were in federal buildings where all people had to pass though metal detectors.
No weapons allowed.
M-16/M-4 and a flip-flop,,,60 rounds,,,
No round in the chamber is the safe way to go,,,
Just like Guard Duty,,,
This country is a war-zone now,,,
I can't think of any reason that the Troops should not be
armed but the fear of guns by some people...
What I was implying is that I did not think ONE shooter could have done all this ALONE in a room filled with hundreds of soldiers...and that (as initially reported) there were two shooters. I do like your post: drives the point home in a very classy and effective way. You are a wise man, and I do not know anything. Thank you.
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