Author Topic: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled  (Read 1947 times)

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Offline 5412

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Hi All,

My wife and I had a really good discussion at dinner tonight as we discussed the reports of how the rescue was handled by our president.  We came to a couple of conclusions.

Remember the old adage, it is one thing to be lost and know you are lost, and it is much worse to be lost and not even realize it?  We really feel that BO is in over his head and is so egotistical he does not even realize it, which puts us all at risk.  Not so sure that a lot of the democrat party gets it either.

One risk that most folks might not realize is this.  Our oldest son graduated second in his class at the Naval Academy in the mid-1980's.  He went on to get a master's degree in nuclear engineering from MIT (with straight A's).  He eventually ended up being an officer on a nuclear submarine.  Every fitness report he received basically said he was a shoo-in to become an Admiral before his navy career was over.

When Clinton was elected he immediately resigned his commission.  He flat refused to serve a commander-in-chief that he did not respect, he basically said he did not want to serve the rest of his career de-commissioning submarines.  A few years later he went to the retirement party of his commander.  The commander told him that it was his job to try to talk him into staying in the navy but he could not do it.  He reassured our son that he did the right thing by leaving and were it not for the fact he was just a few years from retirment he would have been right there with him.

When my son resigned, there was not one officer from the brigade staff of his graduating class still in the navy, they had all resigned.  The brigade staff is normally considered the top officers in the class.

When the report that was posted from the seals gets around the military I really fear just how many good officers and enlisted men we will lose as a result.  Those things can never be measured but they are very real.

We need to retain our good folks in the military and a commander-in-chief who is not respected is one of the major causes of folks resigning or not re-enlisting.

regards,
5412

Offline thundley4

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Re: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2009, 06:43:36 PM »
I think that many service members were already rethinking their options prior to this event.  0Bama has shown through several actions that he has no respect for the military.  That started on the day of his inauguration when he skipped one of the balls for veterans.  I guess it started before that. IIRC he avoided going to Ramstuhl (sp?) to visit injured servicemen during his campaign trip to Europe.  He also missed visiting there during his recent European rockstar tour.

Offline 5412

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Re: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2009, 07:56:11 AM »
I think that many service members were already rethinking their options prior to this event.  0Bama has shown through several actions that he has no respect for the military.  That started on the day of his inauguration when he skipped one of the balls for veterans.  I guess it started before that. IIRC he avoided going to Ramstuhl (sp?) to visit injured servicemen during his campaign trip to Europe.  He also missed visiting there during his recent European rockstar tour.

Hi Thundley,

My wife just came in and told me that the pirates mommy has asked BO to pardon her son.  Now this guy took shots at a US naval vessel.  If BO wants folks to leave the military in droves, all he has to do is sympathize with the pirate and pardon him.  Not that they won't be leaving anyway.

regards,
5412

Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2009, 08:33:20 AM »
I think that many service members were already rethinking their options prior to this event.

A lot of people are thinking, but they're sticking for now.  Probably not so much once economic recovery spins up, especially given the forecast of increasing troop commitments to Afghanistan but not a great deal of confidence in the mid-level military leadership that we have a winning plan for it. 

Quote
Ramstuhl (sp?)

Landstuhl, it's the theater-level big hospital in Germany.  You fly into Ramstein AFB to get there if you're on MILAIR, usually.  It's an exit or so east of the big Theater Support Command operation at Kaiserslautern.
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That here, obedient to their law, we lie.

Anything worth shooting once is worth shooting at least twice.

Offline SSG Snuggle Bunny

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Re: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2009, 08:35:06 AM »
Obama is in over his head but the problem is he believes his own propaganda; as you said, he doesn't even know he is lost.

Worse still no one from his inner circle will tell him he's lost. I do not believe it is because they are a bunch of star-struck fawning yes-men or even mindless toadies cowed by his awesome awesomeness. Rather, I think it is the very same thing that won Obama the election: Yes We Can. What he meant by that was, "you decide what you want and I will serve as the conduit by which that energy is delivered in the direction you desire."

Heretofore the man has made a safe, uncontroversial niche for himself voting "present" while serving as a vocalization for frustrated dreams. He's a blank canvas upon which liberals project their (day-)dreams. Ditto his staff. They won't tell him when he's wrong because he relies on them so heavily to give him the expertise he manifestly lacks in all matters business, military, foreign policy etc. They won't interrupt him because to interrupt him is to interrupt their own pet theories and policy preferences. In short, we are leaderless and at the mercy of a bunch of policy activists each with his own private agenda and they are insulated by the myth built around their puppet.

It is an unmitigated recipe for disaster.
According to the Bible, "know" means "yes."

Offline 5412

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Re: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2009, 06:16:00 PM »
Obama is in over his head but the problem is he believes his own propaganda; as you said, he doesn't even know he is lost.

Worse still no one from his inner circle will tell him he's lost. I do not believe it is because they are a bunch of star-struck fawning yes-men or even mindless toadies cowed by his awesome awesomeness. Rather, I think it is the very same thing that won Obama the election: Yes We Can. What he meant by that was, "you decide what you want and I will serve as the conduit by which that energy is delivered in the direction you desire."

Heretofore the man has made a safe, uncontroversial niche for himself voting "present" while serving as a vocalization for frustrated dreams. He's a blank canvas upon which liberals project their (day-)dreams. Ditto his staff. They won't tell him when he's wrong because he relies on them so heavily to give him the expertise he manifestly lacks in all matters business, military, foreign policy etc. They won't interrupt him because to interrupt him is to interrupt their own pet theories and policy preferences. In short, we are leaderless and at the mercy of a bunch of policy activists each with his own private agenda and they are insulated by the myth built around their puppet.

It is an unmitigated recipe for disaster.

Hi,

Very well said.  I was thinking of posting something similar but you were much more concise than I, plus you thought of some things I overlooked. 

I was going to make up a joke about the psychic who said he had a premonition that within 12 hours someone would blow BO's brains out.  He woke up the next morning to find Rahm Emmanuel had been shot to death.  Between him and Pelosi the left is totally out of control.  What absolutely galls me is the number of democrat politicians who are putting  party unity ahead of the people they represent, even when the public tells them how they feel.

One last item.  I think that it was a stroke of genius to put Hillary in his cabinet.  She, more than likely, would have spoken out about the defense issues and some other things like the thing we saw on Fox where she was warning BO about being a propaganda piece for foreign dictators.  By putting her in the cabinet he basically shut down one large voice of dissent.  Were Hillary in the senate she could have easily spoken out with some more middle of the road common sense and set herself up pretty well for a future election.  Put her next to BO and she is a breath of fresh air.  As of now she is muzzled and therefore the public feels she is supportive of his agenda.

Thanks for the post, makes sense to me.  We are really in trouble as a country for the moment.

regards,
5412

Offline SSG Snuggle Bunny

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Re: The potential impact of the way the pirate situation was handled
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2009, 08:07:37 AM »
I was going to make up a joke about the psychic who said he had a premonition that within 12 hours someone would blow BO's brains out.  He woke up the next morning to find Rahm Emmanuel had been shot to death. 
You got 5'ed for that.

It made my colonel laugh.
According to the Bible, "know" means "yes."