Via Crooks and Liars come two moment in time snapshots of our military as seen from the outside:

Revphat reports:

I received word today that my nephew's helicopter "went down" in Al Anbar in the past day or two. He apparently emailed his father that he is "okay" but, as you all can imagine, I had a mini meltdown.

He also told his father - and let me emphasize that I'm getting this secondhand - that a friend of his (and others in his unit) rotated out for a two week leave with their families. When they arrived at the base on U.S. soil where they are attached, before they could even get off the bus, their CO came on the bus and told them they that would NOT be going home. Why? Because the soldiers who have been stationed at the base have been working HARDER THAN THEY and needed time off. So they would be filling in for them.

Just consider the implications….

From BHFRIK’s blog comes a promoted comment:

Stephen said...
I pray there is never another terrorist shock in the United States. I remember my son calling me on his cell from a city bus, where he had heard of the twin towers disaster. He had served four years in the air force. A year later he enlisted in a Wisconsin National Guard field artillery battalion. The Army deployed them last year to guard supply convoys on the roads of Iraq from HUMVEEs. An explosive formed device, placed by the Shia, bored in to my son's up-armored Humvee on his first mission and wounded him. The convoy forged ahead, abandoning the destroyed HUMVEE. He was bleeding and received no first aid for 90 minutes until a medevac helicopter arrived. Though he was bleeding (nobody had applied a tourniquet to his leg) his heart and respiration were normal and he was yelling in pain. His condition continued to be stable with good vitals during the medevac flight, but 30 seconds before touchdown at the hospital, he went into cardiac arrest. The doctors attempted heroic measures to save him, but were unsuccessful. His death certificate says he bled to death.

I hate unsupported reports like these two. It’s very easy to say, “agitprop – undoubtedly made up,” like the never-right did when Scott Thomas Beauchamp’s reports were published in the New Republic. The wingers went into an automatic denial tailspin, because anything that disturbs their carefully invented made-up universe must obviously be a lie. But then I remember that Beauchamp's reports really haven't been disproved.

But, you know life in this country has deteriorated so much under this pack of criminals that when you hear things like this, you shake your head, look down at the ground, nod, and mutter a quiet curse.

Sometimes I feel the problem isn’t just in the White House, Congress and Judiciary. At times like this I think maybe we should just clean house – cashier the whole lying, skeeving, conniving lot of them - have some Major as Chief of Staff, have some 1st Lieutenants commanding divisions, and rebuild the entire military from the ground up.