[tomball]

Remember this man in November.

[white trash redneck]

This is the kind of behavior one expects from DemocRATs. Craig should be ashamed of himself, and doubly ashamed because he is a Republican and should know better.

[JohnGalt]

Larry Craig is one of the few solid conservatives in the Senate and you want to dump him over a silly local issue?

[Radix]

Thanks for posting this. Holding back promotions for such venal reasons is a disgrace. Our Volunteers should not be subject to this sort of BS. Those Troops put their lives on the line for all of us and they should get what they deserve, wether it be a promotion, or just simple recognition.

Actions such as this are bad for morale and could possibly lead to individuals deciding to leave the Military just when we need them the most. I cannot understand this politician not recognizing this. It is even worse as we have so many thousands of our Troops on active duty and deployed into hazardous areas.

[SJSAMPLE]

My Army promotion to Captain was held up in 1994 because of "EO concerns" by certain congress-critters. Six months lost with no back pay and I lost out on several key assignments and positions because I lacked the grade required. I've never liked these tactics and a Republican using them is even worse.

[Brian S]

Hehehe... This story is now making the top of the hour ABC Radio News rotation. Heard it twice this afternoon.

Me thinks Mr. Craig will be changing his position right shortly. :)

[jriemer]

Remember this man in November.

There's already enough C-130s in the National Guard inventory to let you walk wing-to-wing from Maine to Ireland. If Senator Craig want his C-130's this bad, he can roast in the sun until Idaho gets an allocation of planes in the normal, annual Defense appropriations.

I would imagine that it's a safe bet that the DOD does not see that new C-130s for Idaho as necessary to their core mission. It's just a matter of playing chicken between seats of power. DOD with C-130s in one corner vs. the Senator with Promotions in the other.

[CholeraJoe]

In 1981, my promotion to major was held up the same way for nearly 8 months. I cursed the US Senate each morning as I still pinned on Captain's bars knowing full well my date of rank to major had already passed.

[Temple Owl]

What's his Email address? Let's FReep the B@$t@ard!!!

[jpl]

Before reading this, I had no idea that a U.S. Senator could unilaterally put a hold on a military promotion. Hard to believe this would happen over four cargo planes though.

[jackbill]

Craig just made himself the poster boy for the "stupid" party.

You don't have to have an IQ over 30 to know that this kind of attitude is going to backfire - Big Time.

[grapeape]

If one Senator can hold up the promotions of military officers than that rule needs to be changed. Just like the quarum rule in Texas. These things are stupid and waste time and money. That is what we need to do as political activists.

[CarryaBigStick]

There may be a little more to this than meets the eye. The C-130 now has the capability to deliver fire retardent with new modular retardent delivery systems that can be placed in the cargo hold and used with little no modification to the aircraft.

Idaho is a state that is blanketed with forests and is approaching another potentially dangerous fire season. Those C-130's could be very handy during a bad fire season. That may have been Senator Craigs' intent when he requested these planes to begin with - base closure issues are also a big reason to be sure.

Los Angeles county tried to get the Air Force to cough up a couple of moth-balled A-10's for conversion to light aerial fire tankers for urban wild fire fighting a couple of years ago but the Air Force refused in spite of the fact that they have entire squadrons of them in moth-balls in the AZ desert. The A-10 would be perfect for this role, but the Air Force won't give it up - in spite of the fact that the Air Force brass hates the A-10 (not sexy or zoomy enough).

Perception wins out over reality even in the military. I don't understand this reluctance over the de-militaration of a few unused aircraft. I guess the Air Force still expects the Soviets to send a thousand tanks through the Fulda Gap at any moment.