In my own little corner...

Military Urban Legends

In case anyone tries to tell you (or you see/hear/read on the news) that female soldiers are dying in Iraq of dehydration, because if they drink water in the evening, they'll be raped on the way to the latrine, please tell them they're full of hot air.  You can read about the accusation, with a rebuttal, here.   In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that the link is to a military blog, so its primary interest is to rebut the accusation.  The author of the rebuttal has also served in Iraq.

I know that not all of the people reading this post agree with our current activity in the Gulf, but that's not the issue here. The issue is lies being presented as truth.  This particular rumour (accusation would be another word for it)  is patently un-credible.

There are a few major stumbling blocks to the theory:

1. The person perpetrating the rumour states that a female Master Sergeant (Army E-8) died of dehydration because she was afraid of being raped, and that it was covered up.  Only one small problem - no female Master Sergeants have died in the Gulf. (oops) 
2. To die from dehydration, one would have to ingest no water for a prolonged period of time, and there would be noticeable health issues cropping up before resulting in death. 
3. If one *did* get up in the middle of the night to use the latrine (located well away from the sleeping quarters), one got dressed, including kevlar armor, and carried one's weapon along (either M-16 or 9mm pistol).   

These are just the easy issues - there are others, many of which are listed on the blog I linked to.
Make up your own minds when you hear the rumours - I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone what to think. I'm only asking that if you DO hear a rumour like this, you consider the source (a disgruntled/disgraced US Army officer) and the credibility of the story (the 2 issues I pointed out are not the only issues).

As a US Army veteran (it predates my Air Force time), I am offended by these allegations, and by the unquestioning acceptance they are receiving in some quarters. 

hat-tip to The Daily Brief

Some Things Just Aren't Funny

Citizen Smash writes about a "prank" at the MCRD in San Diego. Seems someone thought it would be funny to strap a fake 60mm mortar round to the undercarriage of a Jeep Cherokee. Smash isn't laughing.

I'm not either, but I might be slightly smiling. Not at *that* incident, oh my, no... but it opened a door in my memory and took me back to Ft Jackson SC, summer of 1979.

I was in Basic Training that summer, having enlisted in the Indiana Army National Guard as a way of helping finance my college degree. So here I was at Fort Jackson in June, up on Tank Hill, in the old WWII barracks. Wooden tinderboxes just waiting for a fire to sweep through them, so we had to surrender part of our nights to stand "fire guard," walking the inside perimeter of our barracks and looking for sparks. Normally one fireguard per building, handling both upstairs and down. But we were a coed platoon (one of the first, in the newly designated "all volunteer army"), and so the men had a fireguard upstairs, and we had one downstairs.

The incident I'm remembering happened towards the end of June I believe, because it was resolved before Independence Day and we were allowed to watch the fireworks. So we'd been there about a month, at that point.

It was a Saturday morning, a typical hot, sultry, stuffy SC summer day, and we were waiting for barracks inspection. We were all standing near our bunks, ready to snap to attention when the Drill Sergeants or company commander arrived. I forget who was doing the inspections that particular time. Our M-16s were disassembled, neatly arranged on our bunks, open to the inspector's demanding gaze. We were third platoon, and these things are always done in sequence. First platoon, then Second, and then us. By this point, inspections were fairly straight-forward, and generally quickly concluded. This one was unusual because of our weapons, but only mildly so.

We stood there, and we waited. Time passed, and we still stood, waiting. We couldn't sit down, because we had to be ready to jump to attention when they came. So all through the room, we were leaning against the cold metal frames of our bunkbeds, waiting. I remember that I wrapped my arms around the frame to ensure I had good support, leaned my head against the upper bunk, and took a 10-15min. catnap (I slept on my feet a lot, in Basic). And still we waited.

Finally someone in authority came in and ordered us to all go outside and form up. We obediently ran outside and "fell in" directly in front of our barrack. The other platoons had done the same. We then watched in amazement as the men in Second Platoon carried all their furniture out into the company street and began setting it up. We were standing at ease, so we could turn our heads to really see what was going on, but we had no idea WHY this was happening.

I don't remember if it was our drill sergeant or the CQ who finally told us the story. It seems that someone in Second Platoon had indulged in a "prank." He (it had to be a "he" as 2nd Platoon was an all-male company) had thought it would be fun to hide someone's rifle bolt. The Drill Sergeants didn't know who the culprit was yet, but they were confident they would find out. The rifle bolt was eventually found hidden in the shower drain, so 2nd Platoon was allowed to move their furniture back inside, and wouldn't be sleeping in our company street.

For about two days, 2nd Platoon bore the brunt of all the drill sergeants' anger. I don't know what all they endured - I wasn't part of their platoon. Finally, someone cracked and identified the culprit, just in time for us all to be allowed to watch the fireworks.

As pranks go, it was pretty harmless, and the end result was minor. But strapping a 60mm mortar round, even a fake one, under a jeep in San Diego... that's not harmless, it's mindless. I hope they find the perpetrator, and deal with him/her as they deem necessary. And I'm glad it was just a cardboard fake.