Army Chief Opposes Private Weapons for Troops [semi-satire]

Semi-News/Semi-Satire ^ | 10 Apr 2016 | John Semmens

[John Semmens]

In testimony before a congressional committee investigating the murders of military personnel at military facilities, Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that he was opposed to letting troops carry personal weapons to defend themselves.

"Let me assure Congress that our higher ranking officers are well protected by the existing procedures," the General said. "Base commanders have a contingent of armed guards between themselves and any potential assailant. I am confident that no intruders could get to them without themselves being shot."

"What about lower ranking soldiers?" Lee asked. "They don't have guards assigned to them. Why shouldn't they be allowed to carry their own handguns for self-defense?"

"Well, there's a danger that these personal weapons would be inappropriately used," Milley replied. "Do we really want troops to make the decision to discharge their weapons before being give the order to do so by a commanding officer? Can we afford to break this link in the chain of command just to save a few lives in the lower ranks? Asking a handful of soldiers to sacrifice themselves in order to keep their superiors safer better prioritizes the human assets we have at our disposal."

In 2009, the procedures with which General Milley is satisfied allowed an armed gunman to kill 13 and wound 32 others in the eight minutes before the Ford Hood base police shot the assailant. Nevertheless, Milley insisted that "I am not convinced from what I know that carrying privately owned weapons would have stopped that individual. Clearly, the base's command structure was never seriously threatened. So, I'd have to say that what we are doing is working as it was designed to do."

if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...

https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/194672-2016-04-08-semi-news-semi-satire-april-10-2016-edition.htm

Or

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?topic=201665.new#new

[John Semmens]

ping

[Does so]

Expendables? Nearly 1000 US troops died in England during practice for D-Day landings. (Exercise Tiger).

:(

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Is that on top of the 950 that were killed when several transports were ambushed by German E-boats during an exercise?

[Does so]

I don’t think so, but the end discussion is that the practice destination was poorly protected by land or sea that could have held off the expected Nazi attack. (They’d scanned the beach the day before). Sad enough to lose troops to friendly fire at the same time.

[wastedyears]

This isn’t at all satire, it came from his own mouth.

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

I want to comment... but even though it says satire.. I’m not sure it is.

This one reads like reality

[Mark]

Like the “Shot heard around the world” has been silenced?

[TChad]

I want to comment... but even though it says satire.. I’m not sure it is.

The game with John Semmens pieces is to try to figure out which quotes are accurate and which are written by John.

I'm usually pretty good at guessing, but not this time. I thought that John made this up: "I am not convinced from what I know that carrying privately owned weapons would have stopped that individual." In fact, that was an accurate quote. However, John wrote the next sentence, "Clearly, the base's command structure was never seriously threatened." General Mark Milley might agree with that, but he did not say it. Perhaps he just forgot.

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

yeah, aint that a kicker?

few other “too close to call” line drives on this one