Photo Credit: APMore than 1,100 National Guard soldiers and airmen in Hawaii — and thousands in other states — will be living with 20 percent less pay over the next three months as the Defense Department carries out automatic federal budget cuts.
Guard members will be furloughed for one day a week starting Monday, so helicopter pilots and mechanics, pay and finance clerks and others who keep the guard operating will have eight hours less each week to do their jobs.
It’s not clear precisely what effects the unprecedented cuts will have. They could, however, make it more difficult for the guard to fly helicopters to help put out wildfires or rush to the scene of natural disasters in trucks.
“Our general sense is that short-term, it’s going to be a terrible hardship for those soldiers, airmen and their families. But if it goes on for any length of time, that may have a negative impact on our readiness and our ability to respond,” said Hawaii National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony.
The military’s furloughs were only supposed to involve civilians, but large numbers of National Guard members who wear Army and Air Force uniforms full-time will experience them as well. The National Guard added military technicians to the furlough list in May, after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel gave official notice to begin furloughs for civilians.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-05 02:29:412016-04-11 11:19:58National Guard Troops and Staff to be Furloughed
Supporters of Egyptian president say military coup is underway
By Richard Engel, Charlene Gubash and Erin McClam. Armored cars, tanks and troops deployed in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, and advisers said they had lost contact with President Mohammed Morsi in what they described as a military coup.
In a scene reminiscent of the earliest days of the Arab Spring, tens of thousands of Egyptians who had demanded the president’s ouster staged a jubilant celebration in Tahrir Square — dancing, cheering and setting off fireworks.
Earlier in the day, the president and the military each swore to fight to the death for control of the country, and a military deadline for Morsi to step aside came and went with no statement from the president.
“We swear to God to sacrifice with our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or ignoramus,” the military said in a statement. “Long live Egypt and its proud people.”
The army took control of state television and sent troops to parts of Cairo where crowds sympathetic to Morsi had gathered. Supporters of the president said democracy was being subverted by a military intervention, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Morsi, said some of its leaders had been arrested. Read more from this story HERE.
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23 Killed in Protests; Morsi Teeters…
By Fox News. Egypt teetered on the brink of overthrow late Tuesday after a defiant Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rejected an ultimatum issued by the military and at least 23 people were reported killed in clashes between his supporters and opponents.
Defense officials have pledged to intervene if the government does not address public demands and end the political turmoil engulfing Cairo.
In a speech to the nation broadcast live late Tuesday, Morsi said he would not step down and would protect his “constitutional legitimacy” with his life.
The deadly clashes came just one day before the deadline set by the military for Morsi and his opponents to work out their differences.
The Associated Press reported that at least 23 people were killed in Cairo Tuesday and more than 200 injured, according to hospital and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Most of the killings took place outside Cairo University located at Cairo’s twin city of Giza. The official Al-Ahram website reported that the armed forces deployed armored vehicles to the area.
By Reem Abdellatif and Matt Bradley. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rejected protesters’ calls for him to step down, telling Egyptians in a late-night address that he is willing to give his life “to protect the legitimacy” of the country’s ballot box and Islamist-drafted constitution.
Without elaborating, he mentioned the possibility of parliamentary elections in six months, part of a list of proposals he said he would consider during talks with the opposition.
Moments later, antigovernment protesters in four provinces across Egypt chanted against the president, calling for him and his Muslim Brotherhood-backed party to leave, according to live footage. Antigovernment protests again swelled on Egypt’s streets, reaching millions, according to local media estimates, just hours ahead of the military’s Wednesday deadline for Mr. Morsi to patch relations with the country’s opposition.
Morsi supporters and antigovernment protesters clashed near Cairo University in the suburb of Giza late Tuesday, leaving at least four people dead, according to the Ministry of Health. The groups traded fire of rubber bullets and pellets in Cairo’s Kit Kat district, according to residents and local media.
The Obama administration has used U.S. diplomatic and military channels to deliver quiet messages and warnings to Mr. Morsi and Egyptian commanders to try to head off the crisis and avert any military coup, according to current and former officials. Read more from this story HERE.
‘All of you infidels will die’: Christians battle radical islamists in deadly Egypt clashes
By Billy Hallowell. The southern Egyptian city of Assiut has long been a haven for radical Islamists, and its Christian minority has largely kept a low profile. That all changed this weekend. These believers, who have been relegated and silenced for so long, have spoken up in the past few days — and with force.
An estimated crowd of 50,000 packed the streets this weekend to join protests calling for President Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, prompting a violent response that left three people dead.
The show of defiance can only be fairly measured in view of the city’s bloody history and the shifts in the local centers of power when Morsi became president a year ago, empowering many of the hard-line Islamist groups around the country, including those in Assiut.
The bloody end of the protest — 32 people were also injured — points to the high risks that Assiut residents, particularly Christians, face if they were to join the wave of opposition to Morsi’s rule that culminated Sunday when millions of Egyptians came out across the country to demand his ouster.
“I, my kids Mariam and Remon and my husband, Nabil, came out because we miss the Egypt we know and we want it back,” Assiut resident Mary Demian said. “These people (militant Muslims) say we are infidels and they terrorize us, but we are not scared. This is our nation and we have always lived with Muslims in peace.” Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-03 03:38:282013-07-03 03:38:28Egypt Teeters on Brink of Overthrow, 23 Reported Killed in Protests; Update: Coup Now Underway (+video)
The U.S. military is embracing a celebration of homosexuals in the ranks this month by sending out a gay pride poster and a directive to commands, while planning a Pentagon symposium that will be attended by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
In the aftermath of ending the ban on open gays in the military, the Pentagon last June recognized Gay Pride Month for the first time in a subdued recognition of uniformed and civilian gays. As defense secretary at the time, Leon E. Panetta gave a public statement, and a Pentagon event featured an active-duty gay Marine, a gay Air Force civilian lawyer and a lesbian who had served in the Army.
Pride month is low-key again this year. The Pentagon has handed off planning for the event to DOD Pride, an organization of gay military and civilian employees. Directives that have been issued do not say commands must hold similar celebrations.
“Secretary Hagel looks forward to participating in this year’s DOD Pride event at the Pentagon on Tuesday, June 25 to celebrate LGBT Pride Month,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
“Secretary Hagel is also looking forward to welcoming [senior White House adviser] Valerie Jarrett to the Pentagon, who will represent President Obama in delivering the keynote address at the event,” Mr. Little said.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2013-06-25 01:59:572013-06-25 01:59:57Military Promotes Gay Pride Month; Directives Sent to Commands
A battle is raging in the U.S. military – over religious rights of the soldiers who defend American lives and values.
An amendment in the recently passed military budget bill actually strengthens religious freedom rights for service members, and was placed there after Barack Obama essentially ignored a similar provision last year.
“We are very concerned about his disdain not just for the members of faith in the military but the legislative branch as well,” said Brig. Gen. Doug Lee, retired, chairman of the executive committee for the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
In last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp successfully sponsored an amendment that was intended to protect the religious freedom rights of service members.
Huelskamp proposed the amendment following reports of service members facing retaliation for expressing their religious beliefs following Congress’ repeal of the Revolutionary War ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military.
[Click HERE for a listing of fifteen recent anti-Christian actions taken against soldiers; the listing appears at the end of the article]
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-06-23 04:33:352013-06-23 04:33:35Battle Raging Within US Military Over Religious Rights of Soldiers
On U.S. military intervention in Syria’s civil war, where “both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line ‘Allahu akbar’ … I say let Allah sort it out.”
So said Sarah Palin to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. And, as is not infrequently the case, she nailed it…
Four fundamental changes make it “no longer realistic, or even desirable, for the U.S. to dominate” the Middle East as we did from the Suez crisis of 1956 through the Iraq invasion of 2003.
The four changes: the failures of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the Great Recession, the Arab Spring and emerging U.S. energy independence.
Indeed, with $2 trillion sunk, 7,000 U.S. troops dead, 40,000 wounded, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans dead, and millions of refugees, what do we have to show for this vast human and material waste?
Can a country with an economy limping along, one that has run four consecutive deficits in excess of $1 trillion, afford another imperial adventure?
Thousands of civilian workers at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — the country’s top facility for wounded combat soldiers — are facing furloughs this summer, as a result of sequester and other federal budget problems, according to the Defense Department.
Roughly 2,400 workers at the suburban Washington facility were recently notified by letter that the department needs them to take off as many as 11 days without pay this summer to help with “extraordinary and serious budgets challenges.”
The furloughs target a wide scope of non-combat facilities and civilian workers to “provide the war-fighters with what they need to protect national security,” states the May 28 letter, first obtained by Federal News Radio.
In a development that worries advocacy groups, the furloughs will impact about 94 percent of the Walter Reed civilian staff including doctors, nurses, lab technicians and physical therapists.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-06-19 02:07:482013-06-19 02:07:48Largest Medical Military Hospital to Furlough Thousands, Putting Wounded Vets’ Care at Risk
The House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution Friday that expresses the sense of Congress that active duty military living or stationed in the District of Columbia should have the right to carry a gun.
The measure sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia Republican, was passed by voice vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes the Pentagon’s budget for 2014. Mr. Gingrey has followed my series on active-duty veterans who have been thrown in jail for mere possession of unregistered guns or ammunition.
First Lieutenant Augustine Kim, Sgt. Matthew Corrigan and Spc. Adam Meckler were all arrested in D.C. in the last couple years for inadvertently violating the city’s unique laws, set in place after Heller in order to dissuade legal gun ownership.
“Our servicemen and women are highly-trained, highly-skilled, and the most professional fighting force in the world,” Gingrey said after the vote about those cases. “That this could happen to our veterans is a travesty. I will continue fighting to protect our Second Amendment rights.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-06-17 03:44:572013-06-17 03:44:57House Votes to Exempt Military From D.C. Gun Laws
Stationed thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, Illinois National Guard soldier Paul Stansbury was crushed when he missed the birth of his son, Hunter, five months ago.
His experiences as a new father were limited to a collection of digitized, two-dimensional photos of his son posted on Facebook and one Skype conversation that made him yearn to hear more of the boy’s voice, and to inhale that baby smell that fills the hearts of most parents.
That wish came true on Saturday when Stansbury and about 130 other National Guard soldiers returned home from a 10-month deployment, just in time to celebrate Father’s Day with their families.
“This is unbelievable,” said Stansbury, 22, as he held a crying Hunter in his arms for the first time, kissing his cheeks and seemingly not wanting to let go. “He’s a perfect child.”
With nine other soldiers also finally meeting their recently born children and the soldiers’ parents gathered at O’Hare International Airport to welcome everyone home, the morning was filled with tears, laughter and expressions of relief.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-06-16 00:07:032013-06-16 00:07:03Happy Father’s Day: Returning Soldiers Get First Look at Newborn Children
Breitbart News reported last week that Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) passed an amendment in the House Armed Services Committee protecting religious speech of service members in the military. President Barack Obama has now threatened to veto the bill if it passes the full House and Senate.
The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014. Among other items, the SAP includes as an objection to the bill:
Expansion and Implementation of Protection of Rights of Conscience of Members of the Armed Forces and Chaplains of Such Members: The Administration strongly objects to section 530, which would require the Armed Forces to accommodate, except in cases of military necessity, “actions and speech” reflecting the “conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the member.” By limiting the discretion of commanders to address potentially problematic speech and actions within their units, this provision would have a significant adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment…
In other words, Obama says he will veto any bill that forbids his appointees or officers from telling a soldier that he cannot mention Jesus during prayer or have a Bible on his desk, or that keeps those appointees from telling a chaplain (who is an ordained clergyman) what religious teachings he is allowed to give in worship services, or what spiritual counseling he can give to another soldier.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-06-13 00:14:222013-06-13 00:14:22Obama Threatens Veto of Religious Protection for Military
The NSA is systematically monitoring the Internet posts and telephone conversations of U.S. military returning from Afghanistan, according to a civil-liberties attorney.
“The FBI and the Secret Service are showing up to request an interview to question specific Internet posts the veteran has placed on websites such as Facebook,” explained attorney John Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute.
Whitehead said the agencies are looking for “anti-Obama views that can be interpreted to reflect psychological problems of sufficient seriousness to disqualify the veteran from ever owning a firearm.”
Whitehead told WND credible sources within the National Security Agency have told him the NSA is downloading 1 trillion communications on the Internet per month, including posts to various websites, emails, instant message communications and texting messages.
As WND reported last week, Whitehead and the Rutherford Institute in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., are representing Marine veteran Brandon Raub, 27, who was arrested by FBI and Secret Service agents for comments he made on Facebook expressing dissatisfaction with the present direction of the U.S. government.
