Weirder and odder…
It appears that Michael Yon has decided to sue General McChrystal according to his Facebook page and Politico;
I have in my possession compelling evidence of General McChrystal’s smear campaign. It’s been sent to my attorney. The sad part is that McChrystal is incompetent even with a smear campaign. Official statements by his people — in writing — have been defamatory and libelous.
I find it very difficult to believe that a general fighting a war has so much time on his hands that he can concoct a conspiracy to besmirch the reputation of one reporter. But i thought I’d tell you about it anyway.
Category: Bloggers
Dude has left the reservation. Sad.
HFS, Batman!! I’m sure the General is shaking in his boots. (KERPOW!!) And, if this is true, I will not support him at all anymore.
Jonn, an aside…I just couldn’t click the google ad for gay dating!!!
Yon is a dumbass.
Oh wait…. ACTIONABLE WATCH (part three): DAY (1)
Looks like he’s morphed into the deployable version of Charles Johnson.
Is Yon as big a narcissist as The One?
I dunno. Its like he stopped trying to be the next Ernie Pyle and started trying to be the next David Hackworth, but I don’t see it. I know he says he has the goods on McChrystal, and he will be vindicated shortly, but I can’t see McChrystal fighting an “information war” against what many consider a friendly asset.
Great. Just when you thought you could find someone who was a straight shooter.
I’ve heard from a number of long tabbers that have met him in Iraq that he is no longer welcome in USASOC units due to his habit of trying to correct SF guys that he was accompanying in Iraq. Telling them they need to setup a certain way on the objective, etc. I enjoy reading some of his articles but it seems to me that the guy has gotten a swelled head the past few years. Not to mention the incident where he grabbed a rifle during a firefight and damn near killed some soldiers by shooting a propane tank. Although, to be fair, it seems pretty dumb to me for a LTC to lead a 2LT, RTO, terp and reporter down a alley after insurgents. http://www.michaelyon-online.com/gates-of-fire.htm
That LTC went on to command 2/75th RGR and is now the 75th RGR Commander. Chasing an insurgent down the street in Mosul 2005. Happened all the time.
Kurilla is a class act and agreat battlefield leader.
He needs to take a long vacation. Guys will still be able to fight without him. I think that all of the years reporting have driven him a little off his rocker. Maybe spend some time away from everyone. In the last year he has been slowly descending into some kind of weirdness: From him being thrown out of the british embed, to this now. Sometimes when there is smoke there is fire.
Wow, this is painful to watch…..he is literally gonna do a Chuckles….
Concur with pretty much everybody … this is depressing to read about. He did a lot of good, now, the good name he built seems to be getting flushed down the toilet.
……the good name he built seems to be getting flushed down the toilet…..
and worse yet, he’s pushing the handle…..
@TJ: I didn’t mean it to sound like LTC Kurilla was a bad leader. Apologies if it came out that way.
Some time off, the right medication, time with friends/family, several weeks/months good sleep, and some talk therapy and Yon could get back to normal. The human body and brain can only take so much stress and it appears Yon reached his limit a while back. Unfortunately his symptoms are being aired publicly. Unfortunate both for Yon and the people he’s lashing out at.
Some medical problems cause people to be tired and lethargic, others make it hurt when you pee, and yet others tend to make you a paranoid asshole. Yon seems to have got the last one. Doesn’t mean that’s what he really is deep down.
The downside is, if you get paranoid asshole syndrome, after you get better you have to go around and apologize to everybody you were a dick to. The upside is it’s mostly curable.
I’m being flippant, but as we all know stress diseases are real. And any medical issue that affects your personality is tough to deal with because a) you don’t realize your personality has changed (Why is everybody being such jerks to me?) and b) nobody sympathizes much with the guy who is being a paranoid dick.
According to his FB updates, he’s been losing it for a while. It isn’t even so much the content and accusations as it is the juvenile delivery and he said-she said nonsense.
The derogatory remarks against milbloggers- especially B5- are what sealed the deal in my mind that he’s gone off-res.