Strange Days

 

Seemed like a good day for followups and wierdos.

Former Major Hassan? Reportedly he practiced extensively with his 5.7 at 100 yards at Ft. Hood. I like equivalent justice – let’s roll him out and tie him to a post, issue 5.7s to a bunch of average shots 100 yards off, and let them chip away at him a while. No reloading limits. ( I also favor impalement for rapists, too.)

You may have heard of an intelligence officer instructor at Ft. Huachuca who was facing trial as a tickle monster, a former enlisted captain name of Christopher Wilkinson, who took French leave a few weeks before his trial in 2021.

He was granted leave, according to court records, “based in part on his history of professionalism and timeliness.”

He instead fled, leading to a yearslong manhunt that ended in rural Illinois, where investigators spotted Wilkinson’s blue 1963 Chevy pickup parked at his mother’s home — and the fugitive ex-captain stashed away upstairs.  Task and Purpose

No need to worry about missing his court date, the court martial was conducted in absentia* and he has a three year sentence pending, BEFORE they tack on charges for his deciding to spend the intervening years elsewhere.

No word on whether his mother will be charged, as she should be, or what will happen to that repainted truck. Not exactly the best idea to keep driving the same 62 year old vehicle for five years after going on the lam in it, now, is it? (For you gearheads, looks to be a pretty solid old 6 cylinder stepside.)

Then we get to Camp Pendleton, where a civilian holding a lit flare was stopped trying to board a Marine chopper.

The incident occurred around 10 p.m. as two helicopter crews were training near an isolated landing pad that sits just west of Interstate 5 on bluffs that overlook the ocean, according to court documents and military records.

Some of the details are interesting – this is the FOURTH time this clown has been arrested for trespassing at the camp.

Marine Corps records showed the same man previously trespassed on Camp Pendleton in September 2022, September 2023 and May 27 of this year, according to the agent. At the time of his arrest last week, agents allegedly found a “ U.S. District Court summons” in the man’s possession that correlated to a trespassing citation issued for the May 27 incident.

Luckily the chopper crew saw him coming, warned him off, and was able to fly away before anything worse occurred. They radioed the Marine police who found the guy still there, and two burned-out flares.

After his arrest, the man allegedly told authorities that “the State Department sent ‘radio waves’ to his head, telling him to light a flare and board the aircraft,” according to a probable cause statement written by an agent with the Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division.Military.com

Four times? Strother Martin put it best: “Some men you just can’t reach.” They say he is in pre-trial detention – to fill the time the numbers 5150 are appropriate (and I don’t mean the Van Halen album.)

Speaking of music, the 60-boat aid flotilla headed to Gaza is getting some interesting comms issues. Seems all their communications channels are being jammed and overriden with an endless tape loop of Swedish group ABBA’s  song “Lay All Your Love On Me”. They either get to listen to it over and over, or have to shut off comms with the other boats.  Well, Greta Thunberg is Swedish – she can feel right at home with that, eh? Not sure whether this constitutes a war crime to the rest of ’em – it’s cruel and unusual, for sure.

Suspected Israeli forces have subjected the Global Sumud Flotilla on which activist Greta Thunberg is sailing towards Gaza on a mission to deliver aid to a novel form of warfare. In addition to pyrotechnics, the flotilla’s organizers have reported a unique method of auditory deterrence.

Forces unknown, but presumably Israeli, have been playing endless repeats of the Abba song ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ over VHF channels near the convoy. Vessels in the Sumud Flotilla appear unable to rid themselves of the endless repeats of the song without switching off their radios and losing communications with each other. Drones are also apparently dropping sonic percussion grenades on some of the flotilla’s vessels.Maritime Executive

Israel says they can dock at Ashkelon, but the flotilla is headed for the Gaza coast. They should enter Israeli waters’ 200 mile zone by Sunday.

* my favorite Brendan Behan quote is about ‘in absentia’: “I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.”

Category: "Teh Stoopid"