SFTTneeds your help to investigate the following hot topics:
Fallujah
Incident of June 23, 2005 WANTED
– SFTT is looking for information on the fatal attack/ambush
on the Marine Corps vehicle that killed six Marines and injured
another 13 in Fallujah on June 23, 2005.
Essential
Elements of Information include, but are not limited to:
1.
In what type of vehicle were the U.S. Marines riding, and what,
if any weapon was mounted on the vehicle? (If there was a mounted
weapon, was it manned?)
2.
What was the composition of the convoy that included the targeted
vehicle?
3.
Was this vehicle on a routine “admin” run that took the
same route, at about the same time every day? Was this a “shift
change” run, either at the end of standing duty as screeners
for Iraqi females, or taking our troops to their posts of duty as
screeners?
4.
Were the passengers loaded in an admin or tactical manner? That
is, were they facing outboard with weapons at the ready, rounds
in the chambers? Or, were they seated in the truck facing each other
with weapons carried/stowed in a non-tactical fashion?
5.
Was there aerial surveillance of the convoy route?
6.
What was the nature of the suicide vehicle used in the attack?
7.
How many enemy fighters were involved, if known?
8.
Why have the Marine Corps and DoD delayed release of the names of
four of the six personnel who were KIA?
9.
We are particularly interested in hearing from Marines or other
personnel who were in the convoy when the attack took place, or
in headquarters who monitored the situation.
Confidentiality
guaranteed to all responders. Please email Roger Charles at sfttpres@aol.com
URGENT – Hack’s Wife / Partner Eilhys Needs Help With
Hack Stories Hack
was working on a book about "Leadership" when he died.
To honor his request to finish the book, his widow Eilhys wants
to hear from those of you able to share anecdotes about Leadership
involving your personal experience with Hack—how his leadership
affected you and/or the situation. And how life-lessons you learned
from Hack affected and/or changed your life. Eilhys would also welcome
any anecdotes about Hack for their archives. Please contact
Eilhys directly.
Troop
Morale To
all our troops serving in Iraq and those who have recently returned
home, SFTT wants a morale check with you: How has your service in
Iraq affected your personal attitudes toward military service? How
has your unit's morale fared during its deployment? What have been
the key events or situations that have determined morale for you
and your unit? We want to hear from all hands. Confidentiality guaranteed
for all responses. Please reply direct to SFTT
President Roger Charles
Are Homecoming Warriors Treated Well? SFTT
is very interested to know what kind of reception our warriors who
are rotating back to the United States through Kuwait, Bahrain,
Turkey, etc. are being given at their staging bases in theater.
(SFTT is not concerned about the great receptions once they get
to the States). We are particularly interested in the experience
of those who have been in the killing zones, not those who watched
the war on their computer screens. Is there open access to the perks
that the REMFs get on a daily, routine basis, i.e., hot chow available
upon arrival (with 24-hour access to the dessert bar), fast food
concessions on bases, MWR facilities, etc.? Or, are they being shuffled
along so as not to interfere with normal ops, and not to create
lines at the pizza and burger joints at the bases? Are senior officers
routinely showing up to let these warriors know how much their time
on the killing fields is valued by the commanders whose orders meant
life and death? First-hand accounts are most urgently desired –
the more detail the better. And, if there’s “good news”
and our warriors are being received in the manner they deserve to
be after spending months in the hell-holes of Iraq, SFTT wants know
about that, too. Please reply here. Imminent Danger Pay Issues As part of a Special Project, SFTT and DefenseWatch request information from active-duty troops on the issue of imminent danger pay, including examples of unfair application of the eligibility criteria and any abuses of the system. If you have any knowledge of these or other related issues we want to hear from you. All contact info will be strictly confidential. Send comments here
Seeking Info on Recruiting A major news organization is looking for military recruiters, either active or recently retired, to shed light on how recruitment is going these days. Please send messages here. All responses will be treated with strict confidentiality.
Soft Training Getting more than the run of the mill complaints concerning
soft training at the Army’s initial entry training camps. This
is especially true from concerned moms and dads. Most say Army basic
training is a joke and the cadre can’t sack anyone because
CO’s are concerned with getting zapped for a high attrition.
Please
shoot SFTT your first hand observation. Not of yesterday
but today. Thanks.
Probing Detainee Abuse Numerous sources have been asking us to look into allegations of a possible DoD cover-up of prisoner abuse scandals in Afghanistan, Iraq and at Gitmo. If you have any intel about a cover-up of an incident of prisoner abuse/torture by either the military or a civilian intel agency, we want to know about it. Needless to say, no names or other ID needed, just solid facts or a place to look. This is an important one, folks. All assistance is appreciated. Send all intel here
Poor Troop Morale in Iraq? News reports are flying all around concerning the growing erosion of morale among the troops in Iraq. Is this true? We would like to hear from people directly involved in this vital issue: What do you and your buddies really think about the current mission in Iraq? If you are currently serving in Iraq, about to deploy or have recently redeployed, we would like to hear from you. All contact info will be strictly confidential. Send comments here
Combat Zone Tax Break We are told by folks around the flagpole in good old
Heidelberg that the top brass there are running the old end-of-the-month
trip to Bosnia and Kosovo. You know tax break for visiting a combat
zone but nothing valid comes from the trip except the troops there
being harassed by visiting firemen and women. Would appreciate your
on the ground observations. True. Not true. Names and frequency
of visitors. All input will be treated off the record. Please send
SFTT your observations.
Attention Fort Jackson Drill SGTs SFTT has been getting a fair number of complaints from Drills
at Jax… Here is a sample:
Hi Sir, It is amazing how a country at WAR is cuddling soldiers in Training. Ft.Jackson is as Crazy, Gen A.Turner who is always in NCO business is constantly hiding in the bushes to catch Drill Sergeants cussing. He been tryig to relieve many of them. Colonel there is so much going on at Ft.Jackson in the BCT enviroment i could spend days talking. The bottom line is that Drill Sgt are just doing there time and flying low under the radar so that they don't lose their lively hood. I continued to be Old School. I wsh that you or someone in your staff could check Ft.Jackson out, and talk to some Drill Sgts off-line and get their perspectives. "This We'll Defend" A SENIOR DRILL
A ‘Signature’ Win for the Families
To those fortunate people who have not endured the agony and grief of losing a loved one in Iraq and Afghanistan, the issue of whether or not the Secretary of Defense personally signed a condolence, or had the document executed with an autopen machine, may seem abstract and not that important. But to soldiers and their families, this seemingly minor point carries great resonance, for such a letter is supposed to reflect the fact that the U.S. military – despite its size and far-flung operations – is even today, in this era of smart weapons and spaced-based sensors, a band of brothers united in common cause to protect the nation. Full Story
Major
Vandergriff’s Brave Call To Blow Up The US Army Personnel
System And Start All Over Again
Maxim Magazine Reviewed by Steven Lee Beeber "Tougher than a one-dollar steak and madder than John Wayne at a peace rally..."Full Review and Others
"A riveting, candid, and hard-hitting combat narrative by one of the top few brilliant battlefield leaders in the history of the U.S. Army. Hackworth took over an ineffective infantry battalion in the 1969 "withdrawal" Army and turned it into a superb, proud and aggressive fighting unit against an unseen, hit-and-run enemy. What he learned and how he fought could be useful in Afghanistan against the guerrilla enemy faced by Free World Forces. Outstanding!" -- Harold G. Moore Lt. General, (U.S. Army, Ret.) Bestselling Co-author of WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE ...AND YOUNG
Order
Your Copy Today!
$30.00
Band of Brothers For The Vietnam Generation
Colonel David H. Hackworth, one of America's most decorated soldiers, lays bare his most daring and legendary tour of duty.
1966 With a full year of Vietnam combat and five months of intense in-country after-action analysis under his pistol belt, Hackworth pens the classic tactical handbook Vietnam Primer with military historian Samuel Marshall. In a radical shift from the World War II-era tactics then employed in Vietnam, Hackworth stresses the necessity of using disciplined, small units of well-trained men to best fight the hit-and-run warfare of the elusive Viet Cong. "Out-G-ing the G," he called his tactics.
1969 Hackworth's expertise lands him back in Vietnam. The Army's clear-put up or shut up. Given the "hopeless" 4/39th-an infantry battalion of poorly led draftees with one of the Army's worst casualty rates-Hackworth leads from up front and finds the best in every one of his grunts. Together they take a page from the VC, write their own book, and become the meanest in the Mekong Delta-the Hardcore Recondos.
2002 With the U.S. again facing elusive insurgent foes-and the hit-and-run tactics of the international terror networks we're presently up against-the 4/39 Hardcore Battalion's successes provide hard-won lessons-learned that are more applicable now than ever.
A tour de force of front-line combat action, STEEL MY SOLDIERS' HEARTS takes readers alongside sniper missions, into grunt ambush actions, above fields of fire with hard-hitting helicopter strikes, and inside the quagmire of command politics. Hackworth graduates the Mekong Delta brotherhood into the pantheon of our nation's most heroic and effective warriors.
David
H. Hackworth
A syndicated columnist for King Features (Defending
America), David Hackworth is co-author of the 1989 international
best seller, About
Face subtitled,The Odyssey of an American Warrior and the
subsequent Brave Men.
He also co-authored the Vietnam
Primer -- the fighting man's bible for guerrilla warfare
in Vietnam which was published by the Pentagon and used as a training
manual during the Vietnam War -- and Hazardous
Duty which has been a best seller all around America and
is still on the shelves in paperback.
Hack's most recent book, Steel My Soldiers' HeartsBuy
Now,
has been a best seller around the nation. Go here
for details or wait and see the movie. Lot's of excellent insights
from readers can be found here.
These pages are designed to introduce you to Colonel Hackworth and
keep you up to date with his writings and personal mission to:
"Ensure that American troops are never put in harm's way without
the right training, the right equipment, the right leadership, and
the right mission."
TheVIETNAM PRIMER is now available for shipping in a new updated edition, which includes two chapters of STEEL MY SOLDIERS' HEARTS
BULK ORDERS
We’ve
received many bulk orders for the primer from combat units.
New
SOP: 10 copies or more $11.00 a pop.
"Three out of four booby traps employed trip wires attached
to grenades. Of these, the majority were Red Chinese. Nineteen
percent of the mines and booby traps came from dud U.S. bombs
and shells, the explosive material scraped out and then placed
in C-ration or coffee cans careless GIs left behind."
--Col.
David Hackworth
STEEL MY SOLDIERS’ HEARTS
The
March of the Porcelain Soldiers Nothing
is more basic than Basic Combat Training. Basic to the ways of war.
Basic to national security. Basic to the very survival of the United
States. So how come Fort Jackson, the single largest producer of
Basic grunts, male and female, is under the command of a general
who piled up more friendly fire casualties than anyone else in Desert
Storm? Full Story |
Reader
Feedback
The U.S. Army: An Unavoidable Challenge
The US Army is pursuing the most comprehensive transformation of its forces since the early years of WWII. Army Transformation is nested within and dependent upon joint transformation, guided by the mandates embodied within strategic policy documents such as the National Military Strategy, Defense Planning Guidance, and the Quadrennial Defense Review. These sources unequivocally assert the critical role of landpower to dominate the highly complex land environment that comprises the heart of most joint operations and affirm an enduring and unavoidable challenge in conflict to control terrain, people, and resources on land, where political authority resides. more
Bringing
the Awards System Back to Reality
The
original premise of the American system of Military awards, as it progressed
from the institution of a Medal of Honor during the Civil War through
its expansion during and between the two World Wars, was to recognize
bravery in combat, participation in campaigns and some few acts of outstanding
planning and leadership in warfare. From that original intent, it has
become so bloated as to be almost meaningless. It is not unusual for a
service member to complete a first enlistment with four rows of ribbons,
or for a service member with a few tours in, but no combat service, to
wear multiple personal decorations. Full
Story
The
Wolfhound Raiders
I've had scores of
requests for information on the Wolfhound Raiders that were formed and
fought in the Korean War. Here is an extract from Gung Ho magazine and
two chapters from ABOUT FACE that cover the Raiders during the Korean
War. more
SNAFU IN IRAQ
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) summary report of U.S. lessons learned in Iraq. View Report (PDF)
A MUST READ
The Size Of The U.S. Army A spot on article of what is wrong with our army and the fixes. Please copy and send to your lawmakers with a pencilled note demanding action – Am told this elite group of self serving takers do read these while the rest of the letters go to clerks. If we don’t get engaged and soon, our country will soon be a third world nation because of the extreme neo cons and their extreme liberal pals led by the corrupt multi nationals. - Hack
Infantryman's Prayer This prayer was sent in to us just recently. We believe it to be worthwhile to post and offer it for wider circulation. more
"The hope of freedom depends in real measure upon our strength, our heart, and our wisdom. We must be strong in arms....We must be devoted with all our hearts to the values we defend."
President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Wall The area around him was devoid of wind and snow, as if the Wall created a sheltered harbor from the storm. He was staring at one panel, at a spot about chest high. Upon my approach, he said to no one in particular, "Goddamn bastards are doing it again." more
A Tribute To All Who Served You were there, and you were bloodied. Our world, outside the band of brothers who served, has never seen what we were fighting against and know what we were fighting for. The journalist, college students, and peace activists never realised the damage they were doing, or that all of them had freedoms because of what warriors, who paid the price, did to protect them. And you/we felt the defense of freedom, our domestic tranquility, and our way of life here in America was worthy of our fight. If you are a Veteran who served, all I can say is "Welcome Home" and "Semper Fi" you are worthy of our nation's support! After having been there, your world was never the same again!! View Flash Movie
U.S. Military Oaths of Office
Enlisted Oath of Office for the U.S. Military:
''I, <insert name>, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.''
Commission Officer’s Oath for the U.S. Military:
“I <insert name>, having been appointed a <insert rank> in the U.S. Army under the conditions indicated in this document, do accept such appointment and do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.”
The
'Fake'
File
F
A K E : Fake
SEAL Stan Glosson: Evoking (FAKE) Memories of Vietnam Iraq
is not Vietnam. But inside Glosson's head, they bleed together.
This week's Pentagon spin may as well be the inflated body
counts from decades past. Still tormented at 60, estranged
from his wife, and walking a tightrope recovery from heroin
addiction picked up in Vietnam, the former Navy SEAL keeps
mixing up the two wars: WMD and Agent Orange. Abu Ghurayb
and My Lai. Pat Tillman and . . . Stan Glosson. "All
these innocent young guys," he says. "My war ended
30 years ago. But every time I hear those stories, it puts
me in a tailspin." Full
Story
F
A K E : Arthur
D. Lujan, Assistant Principal, Backman Elementary, Salt
Lake District "He
is our personal Old Glory, our heart and soul, our spirit,
our confidante, our everything," Principal Fern Wilkerson
wrote in an award nomination. Lujan, who once was caught
up with gangs, turned around his life and became a Navy
SEAL, Vietnam veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient.
Now in education, he continues to serve proudly. "Today
all students, impoverished or not, need real heroes, genuine
role models; Art is that and more," Wilkerson wrote.
"He personally invented the words: work ethic. He represents
the spirit of America and all that is good in education."
Full
Story
F
A K E : Muskegon
Fire Chief Exposed as Phony SEAL It never ceases to amaze us the depths
some people will go to in order to present themselves to
the world as something they are not. In this instance, Patrick
Laverne Simpson managed to get himself hired back in 1995
as Fire Chief for the City of Muskegon, Michigan. He was
the first Fire Chief hired from outside the department since
it was formed in 1873. On his application he stated he was
a former Navy SEAL and had a Master’s Degree.
Full
Story
F
A K E : Johnson,
James Dearing VeriSEAL
is continuing its investigation into the false military
claims of 48 year old James Dearing Johnson of Rocky Mount,
North Carolina. Johnson, an insurance adjuster and former
car salesman has misled over a dozen women by claiming to
be an active duty Navy SEAL deployed to Afghanistan in March
2003 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).
Full
Story
URGENT – Hack’s Wife / Partner Eilhys Needs Help With
Hack Stories
