A Navy lieutenant no more

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 4/18/08 | MIKE BARBER

[OldMissileer]

The sad part of it is I met more of them like that than not: Wanted the free education, decent pay and the prestige of the rank and positions but pulled out the female “trump” card when the going got tough.

They put a bad light on the women who really wanted to serve.

[goldstategop]

There are lots of female soldiers, sailors and airmen who serve their country honorably and they don't get a mention in the MSM. Let's not forget that for the few bad apples in the military there are tens of thousands more who sacrifice everything to defend their country. Its time to salute them.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Poetgal26]

Sorry for your luck there missy, you signed on the dotted line and ugh you like Cindy Sheehan, that should be a mark against you right away....

[Radix]

Douche bag!

[ThunderStruck94]

I do have mixed feelings about this. I am a 39 year old Navy Pilot (Will be a CDR within a year) and I just got back from a ground job in Fallujah this past Feb. I was deployed for most of 2006 in a flying capacity in the Med. I came back from deployment late Dec and was sent to Iraq duty the following April as an IA. I am highly capable and well trained in aviation and naval tactics. I was put into a job in Iraq that had little to do with anything I am trained to do and could have easily been covered by a mid-level NCO. Keep in mind that you the taxpayer pay me a $25,000 a year aviation bonus and $840 extra a month for aviation career incentive pay in addition to my base pay (trust me, I am not hurting). Plus, I am income tax free for last year and probably this year with all of the tax benefits I received. I am glad that I got to go to Iraq and I had a blast, but I am mature enough to question the use of resources. Seems like we are hurting for force expansion in the Army and the Marine Corps when a guy like me has to be involuntarily placed into a ground job that could be covered by a more cost effective method. Maybe we have too many people in the Navy? Didn't seem like the Navy missed me at all. Anyway, the Iraq experience was very positive for me.

[muawiyah]

Yup, those Navy people think they're "safe" from Infantry type duty (defined here as "Hey, they're shooting at me") ~ but they're not.

During the Nam this was a big problem ~ guys would try like crazy to join the Navy just to avoid the draft, then they'd get in the Navy ~ maybe even be commissioned, and next thing you know some guy's got 'em on a Swift Boat!

Can you imagine how startled John Kerry was when he found out Swift Boats ran up and down a narrow river getting shot at rather than just running parallel to Vietnam's China Sea shoreline ~ far away from any effective fire from the NVA.

Now this doesn't mean all the Navy folks are this way ~ I've known some who weren't ~ but some aren't ~ hey, there are even guys in the Infantry who don't like to get shot at. And, besides, this is a chick ~ we know she didn't sign on for that part.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

"Sabrina M. Weiner, 27, near her home in Everett on Friday. Weiner was a Navy reserve officer until she refused to go to Iraq in January."

[meandog]

Did she miss the part where she swore “to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and “to obey the orders of the officers appointed over me”?

[meandog]

Well, I’m a retired Navy Reservist who went in during Vietnam. I do not think many Navy folks thought that DaNang was “good duty” but we all swore the same oath given to every armed forces member (Navy, USMC, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard) and that oath states that 1. we will obey the orders of the Commander in Chief and the officers appointed over us; and 2. that we will defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic.

[Yo-Yo]

“...and other duties as assigned...”

[Little Bill]

Getting shot at in the Infantry is an occupational hazard, not especially pleasant but it goes with the job.

[ThunderStruck94]

Yes, absolutely agree with you. My point is that we probably do not have the numbers we need in the Army and the Marine Corps. Those boys (& girls) do their duty, but they are really having a hard time with the rotation cycle. In today's high tech military, you cannot just tell its members that we don't give a crap about your home life, professional abilities, etc.......just do your duty without question! Things are a little different these days. There are no conscripts in the military. If you start treating them like conscripts, readiness will suffer because no-one will stay in.

[muawiyah]

Buddy of mine who was a US Army supply officer thought Da Nang was tremendous duty ~ the alternative being out in the boonies.

[Cicero]

Agreed. I certainly did. And see #18.

The most egregious order we had came down from Defense Secretary McNamara himself in the early Kennedy years. He considered himself an “efficiency expert,” having done so well making Ford Motor Company more efficient.

The order said that any jeeps or trucks that were not being sufficiently used at the company level—which would be determined by their mileage, which had to be reported up the line—would have to be turned back in.

The predictable result was that our company officers ordered us to go out in the desert and drive around in circles, until we had put on the required mileage. They were, of course, absolutely right. If trouble came, we would need those vehicles. No good officer would ever agree to turn company equipment back in if he could help it.

So, out we went into the desert.

A better solution would have been to fire McNamara for stupidity. That would have saved a lot of trouble down the line, when we got into Vietnam.

[VOA]

You have to obey orders, stupid or not.

BUT...
IIRC, you have the option (duty?) to disobey patently ILLEGAL orders.

which is obviously NOT the case with this ex-officer.

Who is THANKFULLY! not in charge of other honorable service
personnel!!!

[the_daug]

Weiner says she was not against the war but the so-called "individual augmentee" program. In the past several years, that program has sent nearly 60,000 sailors from ships and bases to augment Army and Marine ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. "
It is 30 years ago I was in the Army but they did this then too.

It is not an against-the-war argument but a people-accountability argument," Weiner says. "I was proud to say I was a Navy officer. My problem is the way they are using us as IAs. It minimizes the job and training we do for the Navy."It cannibalizes the Navy -- and Air Force -- to cover up a shortage of Army and Marine troops to fight the wars, she argues.
Some people are smart but have problems with "common sense"

I was under the impression this was done to have a large number of people who would understand armed forces operations from perspective of another branch of service.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

A woman of Jewish and East Asian descent to try to talk to men about money in a country where women aren't always allowed to handle money," Weiner says.

Concerning DoD's deeply flawed and ill-conceived "warm body" augmentation policy, she does have a point here. That's why so much of the reconstruction and civic action that has been going on in Iraq has been so incompetent.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Ditto.

[VOA]

Weiner got a call before Christmas that she would soon be called up.
She says her job in Iraq was to have been commerce officer, providing
money to local Iraqi leaders.

That gave her pause, not only because she was not trained for
the job, but also because she is of Japanese, Korean and Jewish ancestry.

This gets the Golden Turkey "TRIFECTA" Award For Excuses.

1. You can't deploy me because I'm Multi-Racial like Vin Diesel!

2. (a gratuitous mention of the timing of the order)
You can't deploy me...it's around Christmas Time!!!

3. (implied)
You can't deploy me because I'm a female (that would be dealing
with the standard females-as-property attitude in The Real
Islamic World).

Call me cynical, but I wish I had the ability to mention my
mixed ancestry (German, Dutch, English, French and G-d-Only-Knows
what sort of mongrel mix) as a reason to not take a deployment order)!!!