From the Ranch

From the Ranch

Friday, January 30, 2015

The Question Keeps Nagging at Me...

So... that protective order was in a "rescinded state" at the time when the tazer incident occurred... So... why would any reasonable person... make that commander... after learning that the Soldier had approached his wife and a German neighbor with a tazer and billy club, (in Germany where the military is here by invitation,) why would that commander then refuse to reinstate another protective order...  For those that are unfamiliar with protective orders, a protective order requires that the individual who is determined as a threat maintain a certain distance from the person who feels threatened, and not contact the person who feels threatened by any means.

That sounds reasonable to me...  I hear, third party, that the rationale was words to the effect, "they are now getting a divorce, so there is no need for a protective order."  Two incidents happened to the person being protected for which no consideration has to my knowledge ever been given.  Of course no proof or evidence of who the perpetrator of these incidents was can be found, but on two occasions, the protected's car was disabled.  Once the fuel pump was manipulated, she has a statement from the mechanic who made the repairs that the fuel pump was deliberately manipulated, apparently to him, in order to disable her car.  I am not sure when that incident occurred, but after the tazing incident, the tires were slashed on her car.  One of her children had a medical emergency during one of those incidents.  Since her car was disabled, she had to run to her neighbors for transportation to the hospital.  With each violent and destructive event, the MPs and the German Police were called, as they should have been.

Now a protective order is in place again, because I have done everything I can think of to shake up the command which is involved. I really don't think that it would have happened had I not began writing generals.  I am old, and I resent having to write generals, I have better, more constructive things to do. Undertaking to write to generals is never in one's best interest, and without personal risk.  I have paid a price many times for doing so.  I have paid a price this time.  The DOD is in my estimation the most powerful organization on planet earth, and they crush people at will.  A new protective order seems to me to be a much more responsible command decision, but what would I know, I've never served.

Of course I am the grand-daughter of a WWI Veteran, who left this world long ago, when the mustard gas exposure on the battlefield in France finally claimed his life.  I remember being twelve years old and watching him struggle for air as he lay on the couch, and we waited for the ambulance.  My father was holding his hand, and praying for him, as he slipped into eternity.

I remember too when I was a child and my dad had a relapse from the hepatitis he developed while serving in the Philippines after contracting  malaria.  He was part of the occupation forces after WWII.  Once he woke to a Catholic priest administering last rights, and whispered, "I'm Baptist, and I'm not gone yet!"  There were times in my childhood when I would hide my eyes while sitting at the end of our sidewalk and tell myself, "when I uncover my eyes, Daddy will be coming down the street, coming home from drill."  For a few years of my childhood, my dad served in the Texas National Guard as well.  In my memory also is the pride I felt as my daughter graduated from NCO training, and the respect I hold for my two sons-in-law, who have served so honorably.  One son-in-law can no longer serve, he was wounded severely in Iraq in 2003.  Then there is the 30 years of service of my dear husband, who spent his last two years of service in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus an additional three and a half years serving in Iraq with the State Department after retiring from the military.  I could more easily than not let this all go... but you see I have one more personal interest here...  I have a beautiful, highly intelligent grand-daughter who is so full of honorable character, and she is a freshmen in high school.  She loves being in the JROTC unit she is in, and is looking toward West Point.  I know well what honor and responsibility requires of me.

I feel that when the honor of the organization where so many of my dearest loved ones have served with honor, and given so much, is tarnished by a few, I must act.  In whatever power I have, which isn't much, I must act.



No one consults you or me when leadership sends our loved ones, our sons and daughters into harm's way.  Those of my family who are left behind always do everything we can to support their service and the United States Military.  If I do not point out to leadership that they have the responsibility to lead well, with due diligence, honor, and devotion to sacred duty... who will...


My question is this: Is administrative discipline as clearly due to the command as I see it due, which failed to protect, and allowed an individual Soldier to repeatedly tarnish the reputation of all who honorably serve in Germany and the world over? 

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Do You Know What is a Little Scary...

To this day there has been no accounting as to what became of that tazer and billy club used to threaten...  There is a free man walking around who knows, and has access to where it is... and he fears no authority.  For some strange reason, he feels completely protected... makes one go hummm...

 Can anyone besides me see that freight train coming?



Sometimes Women Cry in the Night




Secret Tears

Once there came terror to the heart of a woman innocent,
A man with fear and intimidation, her soul did rent.

In the dark of night, in a foreign country, and alone without a friend,
She would search God's Word, and beg Him to make her torture end.

 Her cries by no human being were heard, when she first spoke out.
Never did this cause her to lose faith, or her mind her God to doubt.

Now after years those who live by honor, justice will soon render,
Not ever in her suffering did she all her hope surrender.

His own dangerous words, sent to torment and control,
Will now be read for real men to regard and behold.

His violent and vile actions too will come to light,
No longer does she stand left alone in this fight.

God is always faithful and makes a way of escape,
When the helpless to the Father their fate give, for Him to shape.

I Need to Dedicate This To a Mighty Warrior I Know...

She knows who she is...


Wednesday, January 28, 2015

What Happens When a Person is Riddled by the Army?

Someone shows up in their home with a tazer and a billy club....  No matter how much the person screams, "what are you doing here?" or their neighbor shouts, "you cannot be here!," the person's lack of knowledge that the "protective order has been rescinded," is nothing more than a source of amusement for their abuser.  The abuser CAN be there, he CAN threaten the person and their German neighbor with a tazer and a billy club... the Army says so... it isn't a crime unless he actually touches the person with the tazer, or he swings the billy club at the person...  Threatening the person, firing the tazer in the air, holding the billy club up, filming the person's terror, that's amusement for the person's abuser which the Army won't do anything about.  The fact that the behavior is in front of two small children, who are also terrified is not a factor either. This behavior does not meet the criteria for the commission of a crime, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the Army will take no action.  A two star general will put that in writing... Want to see proof of that?  I have a copy of the letter...



Riddle Me This...

When is a protective order issued by a commander in the United States Army not worth the paper it is printed on???  When it is "rescinded" by the issuing command but the "protected" person is not informed that the "protective order" has been "rescinded."

Friday, January 23, 2015

I Don't Know Why Every Time I Am So Disappointed

I am an older person, I've been around the block a time or two, and one would think I would have grown accustomed to, accepted that, military commands often fail to act honorably.  You would think that I would have come to the place where I could acknowledge within myself that my illusion of honorable leadership does not consistently exist in the United States Army.  I see it all the time within the lower ranks.  Many of the most honorable and courageous people I have ever been privileged to know, make up the ranks on the officer and non commissioned officer side. Somewhere around the rank of lieutenant colonel, those I can respect begins to diminish rapidly in numbers.  Something about climbing that career ladder seems to subtly begin to corrupt, or as in the case of some who have always been corrupt, rear confidently a defiance of "honor at all costs."

 
I have long been involved in the work toward eradicating the injustices routinely committed toward those who find themselves the victims of Military Sexual Trauma.  I have worked in Washington, written on the subject, and I never miss the opportunity to stand united with the victims of this life devastating crime.  I have seen their sad eyes...



I Saw the Sad Eyes 

I saw the sad eyes of women who had been betrayed,
By those who from honor, never should have strayed.

They could not have known what would come to them,
 Integrity was pledged and they believed without a whim.


In a dark hour their faith and loyalty was shattered. 
Their lives, without regard, left broken and tattered.

 

Time seemed strangled and unable their injuries to mend.
To go on with life seemed to have nowhere to begin.

Then in chorus the sad eyes looked around in panic and pain,
In a moment they knew other eyes revealed the same stain.





                                                                    
 Hearts united and power and change came with more ease,      
 The weakest were lifted first by the women from their knees.





Words and tears were shared and brought balm to their soul wounds.

Slowly in unity they overcame, and the living of lives resumed.





 I saw the sad eyes of women who had been betrayed. 
By those who from honor, never should have strayed.


     

Now I have stumbled upon a new kind of victim of the defiance of justice within the military.  It is the military spouse who finds themselves the victim of domestic violence perpetrated by someone serving in the military, in the midst of a command which can care less.  I am going to be writing extensively on the situation as it continues, while offering all the support that I can to my new friend.  She has suffered much, but the German government is becoming involved, and as I watch that process, I am much encouraged.  At the same time, I find myself dismally disappointed, once again, in the attention and accountability displayed by the United States Army toward this matter.  I will keep the names and identities of those involved confidential, but they will each recognize themselves.  Stay tuned, I am once again writing generals...  Tomorrow, disappearing reports...

 The woman next to me really liked what I said...