This is ass-backwards. It's the enemy who is supposed to have to watch his sorry ass.Troops and their families at MacDill Air Force Base are being advised to downplay references to their military connections on Facebook, Twitter and other social media because of online threats made by Islamic State and other jihadi groups.Also now discouraged: Bumper stickers, T shirts and other public signs that show a military affiliation.Though no specific threats have been detected against anyone at the base, the 6th Air Mobility Wing sent out a public service announcement Wednesday morning advising troops and their families to reduce their public profile when it comes to their military connections.The announcement said along with removing military references from social media, those with military connections are encouraged to avoid large gatherings, not wear uniforms when dining out with family, avoid wearing military-affiliated T shirts and hats off duty and to remove military-themed license plates and stickers from their vehicles.The email was obtained by The Tribune and confirmed by Terry Montrose, a spokesman for the 6th Air Mobility Wing.The base is home to U.S. Central Command, which is running the Operation Inherent Resolve campaign in Iraq and Syria against Islamic State. It is also home to U.S. Special Operations Command and Special Operations Command Central, which oversees commando actions in the Centcom region. Crews from the 6th Air Mobility Wing have flown refueling missions in support of Inherent Resolve.Montrose wasn’t sure how widely beyond the wing the announcement went. Coincidentally, the announcement was sent out about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, shortly before a recent convert to Islam killed a Canadian solider in Ottawa and attacked the Canadian parliament there.
We are not feared by our enemies or respected by our adversaries, and our allies know we don't have their back.
Just realized I am staying less than 10 across the bay from there, just across a bridge I cross every day, wouldn't that be a target for terrorists? Our enemy isn't a country it's crazed terrorists, hard to spot, why wear a target on your back? MacDill has always played it low key since its activation as US Central Command. Geographically, the road ends at MacDill and then there's the ocean, well the bay. Its pretty fortified. As a civilian in the vicinity I'm glad they must have received and acted on some intelligence that leads them to err on the side of caution. I have no doubt I personally would be mowed down pretty fast trying to mess with the fine folks and great Americans at MacDill.
ReplyDeleteWe actually have several enemies: al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Iran, North Korea, and the Latin American Communist bloc. Several adversaries - think Russia and China - on top of that.
ReplyDeleteSome of them collaborate in some situations, which makes the whole scenario that much more daunting.
To wake each morning with a mature viewpoint is to give one of one's first thoughts of the day to the fact that this is a hair-raisingly dangerous world.
Oh, there's also Democrats.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are rife with enemies who do the same shit with planes, boats and tanks but only terrorists do the low life stuff like bombing a Starbucks. I might be wrong but I think I read that WWI began the Era which we are still in of no concern for civilians during warfare and all participatory forces have pretty much been unconcerned since. Our forces have been said to have massacered millions of civilians from afar over the past century.
ReplyDeleteHow can you stand to live in / be a citizen of a country you find to be so evil?
ReplyDeleteJust the truth, bro, I love my country deeply. Just not right or wrong. Am I wrong?
ReplyDeleteNam death toll: 882,000, which included 655,000 adult males (above 15 years of age), 143,000 adult females, and 84,000 children
ReplyDeleteSource for the above: ^ Charles Hirschman et al., Vietnamese Casualties During the American War: A New Estimate, Population and Development Review, December 1995
ReplyDeleteWe killed more of their children than they killed of our soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI can stand to live here. But my sympathies to those raging against US for the death of their children.
ReplyDelete195,000-430,000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the war. 50,000-65,000 North Vietnamese civilians died in the war. And all they could call it was collateral damage.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Lewy, Guenter (1978). America in Vietnam. New York: Oxford University Press. Appendix 1, pp.450-453
Jump up ^ Thayer, Thomas C (1985). War Without Fronts: The American Experience in Vietnam. Boulder: Westview Press. Ch. 12.
Sounds like a mismanaged war to me. Which doesn't mean it was wrong to wage it.
ReplyDelete"We don't do body counts," General Tommy Franks has said.
ReplyDeleteWell, somebody managed to: The ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have taken a tremendous toll on the people of those countries. At the very least, 174,000 civilians have been determined to have died violent deaths as a result of the war as of April 2014. The actual number of deaths, direct and indirect, as a result of the wars are many times higher than this figure.
Read more at http://costsofwar.org/article/civilians-killed-and-wounded
We either won them or we didn't. Everything else is a footnote.
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