Comptroller

@txradioguy @johnkonrad He’s one of the best liars on the planet, isn’t that the point of PA? 🤣 But yes he does suck. 🫡

@johnkonrad Dude is a disgrace to the Public Affairs profession.

Been getting some wild calls from randos lately. Most I hang up on. But one today got my attention: Him: “I’m just calling because I need to rant about Rear Admiral John Kirby to someone for a few minutes.” Me:

Until as a parent you realize that no normal child screams for 8 hours and you start suspecting that the parent drugged them with antihistamines hoping they'd sleep but it had the opposite effect and you'd really wish someone would investigate but your just supposed to sit there and be quite with noise canceling headphones.

@Alexa_MRo Preach!

The only thing worse than a crying baby on a plane is a selfish adult who hasn’t figured out how to purchase noise cancelling headphones.

@btcave1 Same year (1991) we lost 7 soldiers on maneuver in Korea. One in my BN to a 113 rollover, the driver made a bad turn coming off a tank bridge and 6 others were killed in road accidents (humvee vs those "terminator" trucks).

NTC OPFOR. I'm pretty sure this was when our PL lost his life. Feb or Mar 1991. The forward vismods on the M551's were removed on the BMP's for better driver visability after this incident. I pulled the pics off of an NTC page on FB that I belong to. He was a new LT and it was a night mission. We couldn't keep his head together.

@dp270 @Lima7Kilo The Army Service Ribbon didn't come out until 1981, about a year+ after this was filmed.

@Lima7Kilo I just noticed the ladies only had the NDSM for ribbons. Shouldn't they at least gotten a training ribbon?

1/4 When I was in Army Basic Training, Columbia Pictures used the 13th training batallion to film the graduation scene for the movie, 'Stripes' with Bill Murray. I was in Charlie Company. Sergeant Blankenship was our drill instructor.

You can't really see through the plastic humvee windows so the rule while maneuvering was that they all have to down so you can see, makes sense. But we were in position with no plans to move for 3-5 hours. I was medical so we weren't part of the movement to contact either so it was kinda of a dick move to make us freeze instead of just saying "hey make sure you lower the windows before you move".

@Comptroller252 @TheIOGuy What exactly was the violation?

But it kinda is already…

@ACraig2031 @TheIOGuy lol no he was Army, i think he was the 1st ID chaplin at the time

@Comptroller252 @TheIOGuy Was it an Air Force Chaplain, last name Collins?

@SunWeatherMan None of them will survive, they'll just get eaten by their security forces.

Old money somehow convinced new money that surviving in New Zealand and Hawaii is a good plan. Meanwhile they are found up and down the rockies.

Depends on what you do. I had 20 Billion dollars in programs that I managed. If I could brief the one star, who briefed the three star, who briefed the Dep SECDEF and my plan actually got implemented as I wrote it, I was pretty happy. I got a 100+ million bucks added to the IDES program in 2012 so it can be real. Now the inverse was watching SF guys make slides for a combat op, it worked but it felt weird.

The unspoken inner drive for me to create the perfect PowerPoint does not exist. All who know me, know this is true. I detest such meaningless endeavors.

@TheBuddyCSM @Docquistador The song is actually about a gay bar in west hollywood so....🫡🤣

@Docquistador My wife gets so pissed off at me when this song is on the radio…

Combat Arms is the reason this song held the #1 spot on charts for so long.

@GBNT1952 They always have the best swag as well.

What we are seeing right now with a large element of Special Operations Forces pushing to the Middle East is not just routine military movement. It is a deliberate positioning of capability, and more importantly, decision making power, at the highest level. The surge of at least 35 C-17 flights from key installations across the United States into Israel and Jordan strongly indicates the potential formation of a Special Operations Joint Task Force (SOJTF) or, if allied partners are involved, a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF). That distinction matters, but the implication is the same. This is not a conventional buildup. This is the architecture required to execute decisive operations. Special Operations Forces operate fundamentally differently than conventional military units. A traditional force buildup of brigades, divisions, armored units, signals preparation for large scale, sustained ground combat. That is not what this is. A SOJTF or CJSOTF is designed for precision, speed, and strategic impact. It brings together elite elements from across the services: Army Special Forces, Rangers, Navy SEALs, Air Force Special Tactics, under a unified command structure that can execute complex missions with minimal footprint but maximum effect. These formations are built to dismantle networks, eliminate remaining high value targets, enable partner forces, and create cascading operational advantages without requiring a massive ground invasion. The inclusion of the 82nd Airborne Division in this movement is also telling. The 82nd is not being positioned as the main effort, but rather as an uplift and contingency force. Their role is to provide rapid reinforcement, secure key terrain, respond to escalation, and enable the freedom of maneuver for special operations elements. They are there to support and stabilize, not to lead a conventional campaign. This combination gives the President something critically important: options. A SOJTF or CJSOTF provides the ability to act quickly without committing to a large scale war, apply precise force where it matters most, scale operations up or down based on conditions, and achieve strategic objectives without the political and human cost of a full conventional deployment. Most importantly, it creates a pathway to victory without a massive ground footprint. Victory in this context does not mean occupying terrain with large formations. It means achieving decisive outcomes: neutralizing threats, collapsing hostile networks, and shaping the environment through targeted, intelligence driven operations. That is exactly what Special Operations Forces are built to do. If the objective is to finish the job, this is the most effective way to do it. A SOJTF or CJSOTF allows the United States to bring its most capable and adaptable forces to bear, while avoiding the risks and long term commitments associated with conventional boots on the ground warfare. This is not escalation for its own sake. It is precision positioning for decisive action, and anyone saying any different is either doing so out of ignorance or because they want to use any force movement into the Middle East as a club against the President.

@RealCynicalFox All of the valor awards require that the Soldier be in a declared "combat zone", they can't give the Soldier's Medal either because they declared the murder a terrorist to award the Purple Heart 👍 so the MSM is the highest award possible.

I hope this is followed up by a valor award for the cadet that stabbed the shooter to death, even if an exception to regs needs to be made to do it. In any case, good on the Army for moving quickly on this, those young men deserve every bit of recognition they’re getting.

@AgencyFirstLFG @Schwalm5132 @EQuest38190 That's mostly accurate only for service academy grads but the idea generally true.

@Schwalm5132 @EQuest38190 The officer corps is like the catholic priesthood. If they screw up you just move them to another command where they can make similar mistakes.

I think we were discussing the fall of military educational institutions about a week ago? I present to you the mastermind of the Afghanistan failure taking over the Citadel.

@CoyoteUnclean Ozempic face isn't a good look for Maui

Man. Gal Gadot has really been hitting the free weights.

@EODHappyCaptain The last combat awards I helped process took two years to get through HRC, so I'd say that's a decent improvement to the process.

The Cadets from Old Dominion University who stopped an active shooter, received 8 Meritorious Service Medals. Two of them received Purple Hearts…from the Sergeant Major of the Army and the Secretary of the Army. Absolutely amazing and well deserved.

@juskom95 @zacharyebell You don't see a VA doctor when your in the claims process, they use contract doctors that are paid by the encounter. So they get paid either way and what your talking about would require massive agency wide government contract fraud that isn't even possible.

@Comptroller252 @zacharyebell Most civilians don't understand that VA doctors are ENCOURAGED to deny claims and play them down to avoid compensation.

For those wondering

@TheProjectUnity You know if you filled that bag half full (approx.) with your clothes and other important items and then applied positive pressure to keep water from seeping in you could easily float across or down the river and have dry clothes when your done.

Ancient Assyrian's used inflated animal skins to cross rivers. The skins were sealed at the openings and filled with air. Functioning like flotation devices / buoyancy bags.

@Knightly_Hist The main lesson is that it's easy to beat Liam Neeson if you don't kidnap anyone.

Another very valid reason to take off a helmet is Exhaustion. If you're so disoriented that you can't see blows coming or keep yourself on your feet.. Your head being protected isn't going to do you any favours.

Rapid fire promotions have a huge role in the lack of experience for level 10 maintenance. I came in as a 19K at the end of the cold war and the only guys I knew who made SGT in less than five years both went SF. In that system you had SSG TC's with 8 to 15 years experience compared to todays SSG's who make it at six years (or less) and are already planning to make SFC in 2-3 more years. Hell I just saw someone post that their buddy was now a BN CSM at 15 years in service. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the new generation is "bad" or "less then" I'm saying their missing 6+ years of level 10 maintenance experience, that's just a fact. They make rank and leave the motor pool far to early to be actual experts. I'm all for paying people more as well but the rank should communicate experience as well as potential. It just doesn't make much sense to say that someone 15 years into a 40 year career has mastered everything?