Nervous Nellies at DoD
Fox News reports that Leon Panetta is in Afghanistan in the wake of Sunday’s shootings of 16 unarmed Afghans by a US soldier. The trip had been planned for weeks, apparently, and by happy coincidence occurred today. So at the New York Times (by way of Bouhammer), they recount how when Panetta was about to address a number of troops, the soldiers were abruptly disarmed;
In a sign of the nervousness surrounding Mr. Panetta’s trip, the Marines and other troops who were waiting in a tent for the defense secretary to speak were abruptly asked by their commander to get up, place their weapons — M-16 and M-4 automatic rifles and 9-mm pistols — outside the tent and then return unarmed. The commander, Sgt. Maj. Brandon Hall, told reporters he was acting on orders from superiors.
“All I know is, I was told to get the weapons out,” he said. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”
Normally, American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent waiting for Mr. Panetta were not armed to begin with, as is typical.
Later, American officials said that the top commander in Helmand, Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, had decided on Tuesday that no one would be armed while Mr. Panetta spoke to them, but the word did not reach those in charge in the tent until shortly before Mr. Panetta was due to arrive.
Yeah, I know these are tense times, but holy smoke, disarming the troops in a war zone so they don’t shoot their civilian leader is a little bit pussyish. I don’t care if it was a general or Panetta who disarmed the soldiers, I think the troops need to know that their leadership has a measure of trust and confidence in them and their loyalties. This doesn’t demonstrate much of either. On the heels of Obama’s admission that he’s “generally proud” of the troops doesn’t help either.
Added: From Mr. Wolf. I beheaded him at his request.
This is from last July, Sec. Panetta meets some armed people in Afghanistan. It from the Washington Post;
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Military issues
Is anyone really surprised by this?
What a big fat pussy
We were told to disarm when President Bush visited us in Iraq at Al Faw Palace in 2008 and also when President Obama visited in 2009. Same thing for Biden. Seems typical.
I’m in the unusual position of being left speechless.
re #2
But for the SecDef? I saw Gordon England in ’04 and we all carried.
Re #4: My guess is the decision is made by people who can’t carry risk or want no risk at all.
Obama, Panetta & Co. probably got their knowledge of the US Military from reading about fraggings in Vietnam War novels.
Stinking cowards, the lot of them.
And any commander who wouldn’t put up a fight to keep his troops armed in a war zone needs to be removed from command.
And any politician who can’t stand in front of our armed forces feeling as safe as a babe in its mother’s arms needs to get out of office.
Hey, I’m just the Secretary of Defense. You can’t expect me to step out in front of armed troops; even if they are the ones I’m supposed to be leading.
I get disarming around the President and Vice President – armed careless privates and badge-heavy Secret Service agents don’t mix well. But it seems to me that the guy who stood up for the CIA to rebuild their confidence would know that disarming his employees would have an effect on morale. Obviously, disarming them in SecDef’s presence isn’t SOP (Standard Operating Procedure for the civvies) because it took a directive from on high which arrived late.
I think it stinks. The lead sheepdog is afraid of his own dogs? Wow. Reminds me of the 70s.
If you read any of this as a Sci-Fi novel 40 years ago you’d laugh and say impossible. I don’t know what we’re doing and where we’re going. I’ve had arguments with GO’s about letting BDE CDR’s mention things like “killing bad guys and breaking shit” in interviews. What exactly do the American people think we do. I’m scared that these bastards would sell us out in a heartbeat for political hay.
Don’t you just talk to people and make them understaaaaand, HH6? I mean, that’s what we’re told is more effective these days.
If they don’t trust the troops, then send them all home.
Wow. Just wow. We had to unload and for visiting officials but not put our weapons outside of arm’s reach. I cannot see how this would work well for establishing trust up or down the CoC.
I guess the Afghans were disarmed….yeah because they tend to shoot their allies. If anybody wants to make money…write a book tracing the how the PC sludge began to creep back into military service after 911…name names. Yeah, I get COIN and all that but come on folks.
SIGO, I think you’re fulla crap. I was with Bush and others on their trips, and we were never even questioned, let alone inspected for chambered rounds. I sent Jonn proof. I have pics, and you can google them, showing troops carrying arms around the prez and others. It was NEVER an issue.
That is, until PBO came along. THEN, all of a sudden it was no longer permitted. Why? Because, according to the SecServ, PBO has more threats against him than any other pres in history. And they can’t tell whether or not threats include troops.
Details are sketchy right now, but an Afghani drove a stolen vehicle onto the runway and into a dich at the base Panetta was flying into…
Once again, the optics of this are hilariously bad.
The Message received by every servicemember outside of the Pentagon: “You are not trusted. Not even a little bit.”
Maybe next time the Protocol office gives the SecDef a condom and KY Jelly before he addresses the troops?
@17 Mr Wolf: I can’t speak for other occasions, but I can confirm that when Bush visited my unit in Baghdad for Thanksgiving in 03, all the Soldiers selected to attend the dinner were instructed to leave their weapons behind and the rest of Biap was locked down. Not that big a deal except for those of us that that missed dinner that night, but the leftovers at midnight chow made up for it.
Also, when Clinton visited Bragg in the 90’s, I remember my units armsroom having a MP guard that day and my unit spent the day doing hands across the DZ (one of the small ones) to keep us busy.
So the regime is now officially scared of their Praetorians. Panetta & Co aren’t fit to lead.
@#17: Well, you weren’t at Camp Victory in Nov/Dec 2008 when President Bush visited, were you? Because if you were, you would know that in order to get into the mass gathering that day the guards made you keep your weapons with your unit or a buddy in order to get in. We could not go into Al Faw with them. This was post-presidency after President Obama had won.
YMMV.
Just saw that an Afghan drove a car up next to the plane and set it on fire. It seems the threat was suspected on the wrong side. IMHO.
Panetta is not their leader. Obama is supposedly. At least by title anyway. He has shown absolutely no leadership skills or abilities yet, either for the military or the rest of the country.
Whether you were armed or unarmed around the President isn’t the issue. The issue is the SecDef; the top dog at DoD and if he makes a requirement that those under him be unarmed before he shows his jelly-spined self, then it sends the exact wrong message to the troops i.e. “yeah, you’re doing a great job of carrying weapons outside the wire, but I don’t trust you to be armed around me”. Fucking pussy.
Uh, USMC Steve . . . as SECDEF, Panetta is most definitely in every US Soldier’s/Sailor’s/Airman’s/Marine’s Chain-of-Command. The Chain-of-Command starts out POTUS -> SECDEF, and splits thereafter depending on service and unit of assignment. Panetta’s the guy in the chain-of-command immediately after the POTUS. He ain’t the CINC, but he’s pretty damn close.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/panetta-visits-afghanistan-following-massacre.html?_r=1&hp
“Mr. Panetta proceeded with his schedule. But in a sign of the nervousness surrounding the visit, Marines and other troops among the 200 people gathered in a tent at Camp Leatherneck to hear Mr. Panetta speak were abruptly asked by their commander to get up, place their weapons — M-16 and M-4 automatic rifles and 9-mm pistols — outside the tent and then return unarmed. The commander, Sgt. Maj. Brandon Hall, told reporters he was acting on orders from superiors.
“All I know is, I was told to get the weapons out,” he said. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”
Normally, American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent were not armed to begin with, as is typical.”
What this says is that the ruling class feels they are losing control of the beast. They are afraid of what will happen when it turns on them. More than anything, it shows their inherent distrust of the military—a group/class they’d never have to run into in the “real world.” Soldiers/Marines can’t afford to vacation in the Hamptons, live in NYC, or eat at their restaurants. many of the “fighting men” live in, or come from, rural areas, go to places like Myrtle Beach for vacation (if they’re lucky enough to have the extra cash to go), shop at Wal-Mart, and consider it a treat to eat at Applebees. To Obama and his crew (as well as to the “conservative” members of the ruling class in DC who are pretty good at paying lip-service to the military) the American soldier/Marine might as well be a Martian, because he’s certainly not fully human. We entrust these soldiers with the NATIONS security, yet Panetta can’t even trust them with his own safety…?
Cheers from a fan.
The secret service is generally behind that stuff. They don’t want anyone with a knife or gun or grenade around the prez or his cabal. When I was on the USS Nassau during the First Gulf, the president came onto the ship and the secret service weasels actually wanted us to clear entire decks when he was moving around on the ship. On that one they got told to go fuck themselves. That is not usually the case though.
[…] charitably reminds Panetta of real threat March 14th, 2012 There’s no need to reiterate Jonn’s post on Pannetta having his troops disarmed before speaking with […]
Heh.
I wonder if any one of those clowns even has a clue about the level of insult they have just given those men?
Oh, wait. My bad. You have to have honor first to be able recognize it in others …
Anybody else pick up that the SGM was listed as the “commander”? Think this is just a case of poorly understood orders or someone calling an audible because the good idea fairy perched on their shoulder and whispered?
Headhunter, we get it. I’m a Desert Storm mom, and hear lotsa fear regarding current regime, none regarding the military.
“Professionally I think it’s a very good idea disarming the troops. They may shoot someone.
Nidal Hussien
MHC PTSD Specialist
@31 raven I was thinking the same thing. This story doesn’t pass my sniff test.