#3rd California Cavalry

[chorusfm]

Olivia Rodrigo Announces Next Single

Olivia Rodrigo will release “Can’t Catch Me Now” on November 3rd. The song will appear in the upcoming Hunger Games film. November 1, 2023 (Santa Monica, California) – A brand-new song,  “Can’t Catch Me Now” from 3X GRAMMY®-winning singer/songwriter, Olivia Rodrigo will appear on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) — the official soundtrack to the highly anticipated new film in Lionsgate’s  The Hunger Games saga. “Can’t Catch Me Now,” available for pre-order HERE, will serve as the opener to the 17-song soundtrack due out November 17th via Geffen Records (the same day as the movie’s release). Go HERE to pre-save/pre-add The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) now.   In addition to “Can’t Catch Me Now,” The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) includes a number of songs performed in the film by The Hunger Games star Rachel Zegler, as well as new music from some of folk/Americana’s most exciting and acclaimed young artists. Featured in the latest trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES, “Can’t Catch Me Now” follows the arrival of Rodrigo’s phenomenally successful sophomore album GUTS (a critically acclaimed LP that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart upon its release in September).   Executive-produced by nine-time GRAMMY®-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) also includes many of roots music’s most dynamic artists who contributed new songs inspired by the film. Along with Flatland Cavalry (a widely beloved Texas-bred sextet), those artists include Molly Tuttle (winner of the Best Bluegrass Album prize at the 2023 GRAMMY® Awards), Billy Strings (named Artist Of The Year at the 2022 Americana Music Awards), genre-bending luminary Sierra Ferrell, and fast-rising country/folk singer/songwriters Bella White and Charles Wesley Godwin. See below for the full tracklist.   The first song released from the soundtrack, “The Hanging Tree,” premiered on October 20th. In the upcoming film (a prequel to the original Hunger Games trilogy), audiences will witness the origin of the storied song when Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler) sings it for the very first time. Also heard in the second official trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES, “The Hanging Tree” has been passed down through generations and was previously performed by Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. View a featurette HERE to go behind-the-scenes with THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES director Francis Lawrence, producer Nina Jacobson, and Cobb as they discuss the creative process for the film’s original songs. This exclusive new look at the music of the film shows how the filmmakers, composer James Newton Howard, and Zegler bring the songs from Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novel to life, with previously unseen footage. The latest release in the blockbuster franchise, THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES takes place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical president of Panem. The new film stars Zegler alongside Tom Blyth, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis.   THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES follows a young Coriolanus (Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts… https://chorus.fm/news/olivia-rodrigo-announces-next-single/

[geneajournals]

The Travels of Mack Senar, Jr.

“Go West, young man…” is a phrase widely attributed to Horace Greeley in 1865.  I wonder if  Mack Senar, Jr., heard the phrase and decided to act on the advice. 

Mack Senar, Jr., son of Mack Senar, Sr. and Elizabeth Bowers,  was born on 17 November 1879 in Mobile, Alabama.  Mack served in the Spanish American War as a volunteer with the 3rd Alabama Volunteer Infantry from 1898 to March 1899.[1] In April 1899 Mack Senar enlisted in the U. S. Army and was assigned to the 9th Cavalry at Fort Grant, Arizona Territory. [2] Due to a clerical error, Mack Senar became Mack Senor in official records for the remainder of his life.

During the 1900 U.S. Census, Mack Senor was enumerated at Fort Grant.[3] In 1901 Mack’s 9th Cavalry unit deployed to the Philippine Islands and fought in the Philippine-American War. Their duty stations in the Philippine Islands, included Minalabac, Menalabag, Iloilo and Nueva Caceres.[4]

In 1903 Mack Senor returned to the United States. The 9th Cavalry Unit Returns document him at Fort Walla Walla, Washington in September 1903. By October 1903 Mack and his 9th Calvary unit were in California for an encampment at the Presidio.[5]

On 15 May 1905 Mack Senor re-enlisted in the army at Kansas City, Kansas.[6] He was assigned to a 10th Cavalry detachment, company B. In March 1908 Mack did another tour of duty at Camp Wallace, Philippine Islands with the 10th Calvary. After returning to the United States Mack Senar was discharged at Fort McDowell, Angel Island, California on 14 May 1908.[7]

Mack re-enlisted on 29 May 1908 at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He returned to the 9th Calvary and was stationed in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On 9 November 1909 Mack was at Fort Russell in Wyoming where he was discharged.[8] He re-enlisted on 24 November 1909 at Fort Riley Military Reservation, Kansas.

From July 1911 to July 1912 Mack was assigned to the Mounted Services School Detachment, at Fort Riley.[9] On 29 July 1913 Private Mack Senor received Special Orders transferring him to the Army Service Schools Detachment at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for duty. The orders also stated:

“The expenses of the transfer will be borne by the soldier and transportation will not be furnished to him.”

Special Order, No. 175, 2062027 A. G. O. (United States, War Department, 1913). Internet Archive.

Mack Senor’s World War I service card indicates that he remained with the 10th Calvary at Fort Leavenworth until about 1919.[10]

Mack Senor, Alabama World War I Service Record

A news article in the El Paso (Texas) Herald, dated 3 January 1921, notes that Pvt. Mack Senor, 10th Cavalry, on special duty at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, has been reassigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona.[11]

The El Paso (Texas) Herald, 3 January 1921

The 1925 Kansas State Census enumerated Mack Senor as a soldier in the U.S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas.[12]

Mack Senor retired from active service on 12 June 1926 at the rank of Sergeant, Headquarters and Service Troop, 9th Cavalry.[13] During his twenty-seven career with the U.S. Army, Mack Senar/Senor did a great deal of traveling in the service of his country.

Sources

"U.S., Spanish American War Volunteers Index to Compiled Military Service Records, 1898," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2400/images/32803_261708-00335 : accessed 29 Nov 2013) > Sel-Sha > images 332-333 of 1955, entry for Mack Senar, Co. G, 3 Alabama Infantry (Colored.) (Spanish War.), Private; citing "General Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers who Served During the War with Spain. Microfilm publication M871...NAID: 654543. Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94. The National Archives in Washington, D.C."

Mack Senar, 1899; Register of Enlistments in the United States Army, 1798-1914; Record Group 94, M233; digital images, "U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914," Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Nov 2013) 1899 > L-Z > Image 396 of 592.

1900 U.S. census, Pinal County, Arizona Territory, population schedule (Military and Naval Population), Fort Grant, enumeration district (ED) 88, sheet 1A, line 87, Mack Senor; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6P9S-69W : accessed 11 July 2023) 4113685 > image 7 of 16; citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 47.  

“U.S., Buffalo Soldiers, Returns From Regular Army Cavalry Regiments, 1866-1916,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 January 2021) > United States Ninth Cavalry ,entries for Mack Senor, 1901-1904; citing “Returns From Regular Army Cavalry Regiments, 1833-1916; NARA microfilm publication M744, 16 rolls; NAID: 300381; Records of U.S. Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821-1942, Record Group Number 391; The National Archives at Washington, D.C.”

Ibid.

“U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914”  database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 November 2013), entries for Mack Senor; citing “Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; Microfilm Publication M233, 81 rolls; NAID: 1184717, 575272 and 1223563; Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; The National Archives in Washington, D.C.”

“U.S., Buffalo Soldiers, Returns From Regular Army Cavalry Regiments, 1866-1916,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 January 2021) > Ninth Cavalry, entries for Mack Senor, 1905-1909; citing “Returns From Regular Army Cavalry Regiments, 1833-1916; NARA microfilm publication M744, 16 rolls; NAID: 300381; Records of U.S. Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821-1942, Record Group Number 391; The National Archives at Washington, D.C.”

Ibid.

“U.S., Returns from Military Posts, 1806-1916,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 January 2021) > Kansas > Riley, Ft. Mounted Service School, entries for Mack Senor 1909-1917; citing “Returns From U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; Microfilm Publication M617, 1550 rolls; NAID: 561324; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984, Record Group 94; The National Archives in Washington, D.C.”

"Alabama World War I Service Records," database with images, Alabama Department of Archives and History (http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm/landingpage/collection/p17217coll3 : accessed 22 May 2020), entry for Mack Senor, service no 1008.161; citing Military Service, Ft Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas. 

“Enlisted Men Returned To Their Old Organizations,” El Paso (Texas) Herald, 3 January 1921, p. 8 , col. 3; digital image from the Library of Congress, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspaper site (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88084272/1921-01-03/ed-1/seq-8/ : accessed 10 September 2022).

1925 State Census, Geary County, Kansas, population schedule, Fort Riley, p. 3, line 2, Mack Senor; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7R-QSHT-G : accessed 29 Nov 2013) 102009868 > image 292 of 621.

"U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963," digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2375/images/40050_2421402106_0395-01153 : accessed 19 Feb 2017); > 1941-1949 > Seiberlich, Joseph J-Sharpe, Herbert W > images1154-1155, Mack Senor: citing “Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941. Microfilm publication M1916, 134 rolls. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. National Archives at Washington, D.C.”

[sagiow]

Director’s commentary on Dangerously close to one another!

It started (well, as almost all my stories start) as morning commute-induced invocation of a few lines of playfully risqué dialogue (and yes, operating table sex, I’m so sorry) following Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard. And that was that for a while; it stayed in WIPLand until MHMM, and I debated whether to play nice and stick with the characters already introduced, or burden you all with yet more Haliza you never asked for. 

Of course, the latter won.

Then it was a question of figuring out how to get what should have only been a total trainwreck to evolve from a random, drunken hotel hook-up to an actually happy marriage, 12 years later. Because let’s face it, Jed Foster Revenge Sex is not that solid a base for a relationship. 

So half the fun (no, struggle) was whipping up a timeline of their encounters, which involved a $h!tload of research on California, Drum Barracks and Sacramento and everything in between. But THEN I stumbled onto this: 

https://anytimetours.oncell.com/en/bold-women-of-sacramento-223132.html

THERE WAS AN ACTUAL ELIZA FOSTER AS A BOLD WOMAN OF SACRAMENTO.

(Fine, she has nothing to do with ours, and she doesn’t marry Hale. BUT STILL.)

The second half was playing Freud with these two people’s brains and feelings (I know, that was never part of the deal) and realizing there was no way in hell their relationship could work out, then and there. And it gave a lot more pathos to something that should have just been a funny, sexy, cringe-worthy pairing.

And that means I am probably condemned to write a 3rd part to bridge the gap between Drum Barracks, late 1863, to Hale Joins the Cavalry and Gets Blown to Smithereens in Alabama, 1865, to They Get Married and Live Happily (?) Ever After, 186?-1875.

Because my literary production was not back-ordered enough without all this borderline crackship nonsense, apparently.

Thank you for the ask!!

[markerhunter]

Summary Statement, 2nd Quarter, 1863 – Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Delaware!

Summary Statement, 2nd Quarter, 1863 – Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Delaware!

Well, well.  Finally!  In the second quarter of 1863, the bureaucrats of the Ordnance Department finally caught up with those fellows serving the Union out in the vast Trans-Mississippi theater.  Sloppy entries, but at least there are entries:

Yes, right up top, we see “Arkansas” with two lines – one for an artillery battery and the other for a detachment serving with cavalry.  Below that we see…

[back-and-totheleft]

Timeline of Service

(Stone captioned this in Seitz’s book: “Nineteen sixty-eight. First Cavalry. Search and destroy.”)

Updated (July 10, 2023): Added info about the Battle of Soui Cut and maps from Combat Operations: Staying the Course, October 1967­-September 1968: The United States Army in Vietnam by Erik Villard.

Updated (July 6, 2023): Added newly found photos and data from the New Year’s Battle After Action report and information from Stone’s memoir Chasing the Light.

Updated (March 26, 2022): Thanks to a National Archives and Records Administration request, I received the public portion of Oliver Stone’s Army record. Pleasingly, my (and JP’s) original research was pretty damn accurate! (Note: the document is a limited summary by NARA. Stone’s military personnel file will not become public record until 2035, 62 years after his release from the Army).

I have now edited this timeline with the actual, official dates and units in which Oliver served. It’s nice to finish with definitive answers - I wish all research projects went this smoothly!

Original Intro: After a discussion with JP of Platoonics, I decided to make this timeline of Oliver Stone's military service, just to keep track of the myriad bits of info in one place. In creating this, I relied heavily on two biographies: James Riordan's Stone: The Controversies, Excesses and Exploits of a Radical Filmmaker and Matt Zoller Seitz's The Oliver Stone Experience (Stone's quotes are from the latter book.) I did a bit of my own original research as well, scrounging from available military sources online. 

I also depended on the invaluable resource that is Platoonics, the best Platoon blog on the web, which contains a ton of original research about the film and its historical basis.

April 12, 1967: William Oliver Stone, age 20, volunteers for the draft. (He does not enlist, as many writers have subsequently written erroneously.) He is inducted at the U.S. Army building at 39 Whitehall Street in his hometown of New York City. His assigned service number is US52758282 and his starting rank is Private First Class (PFC).

April-June 1967: Stone completes basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. At this time, Army basic training lasted approximately eight weeks. On his IBM card, Stone requests infantry duty and a combat assignment in Vietnam. Both are granted. His MOS (military occupation specialty) is 11B (infantryman/rifleman).

June-September 1967: Stone completes advanced infantry training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Advanced infantry training lasts approximately twelve weeks.

September 14, 1967: After a brief home leave, Stone departs Oakland Army Base* in Oakland, California on an air transport for Vietnam. (*Not to be confused with Oakland Air Station.)

September 15, 1967: Oliver Stone's 21st birthday, a casualty of crossing the International Date Line.

September 16 1967: Arrival at Cam Ranh Bay, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam. 

September 27, 1967: Stone arrives in Cu Chi for his assignment to Second Platoon, B (Bravo) Company, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division and is based out of Dầu Tiếng. 

September or October, 1967: Stone is wounded for the first time during a night ambush.

"The next thing I knew I was awake, looking at three figures running toward me across an open rice paddy - around three in the morning. They were refracted by the moonlight. It was terrifying. They were getting closer and closer, and I was frozen with fear. I had never seen a living enemy before! Finally, the position next to mine opened up with a claymore, and the next minute was mad. Huge amount of fire from all directions. Then there was an explosion and I was hit. Passed out for a few moments, a minute...? [....] I'm very lucky to be alive, because I was sliced through [the neck] with, I think, shrapnel from his grenade. [....] So I thought I was dying because there was so much fucking blood coming out. And the guy next to me was screaming he'd been shot. The fight's still going, claymores being blown, smoke."

After a brief trip to the rear for medical treatment, Stone rejoins Bravo Company. (He also receives his Purple Heart for this incident).

This incident has been placed at anywhere from "a couple weeks" to a month after Stone's arrival in Vietnam. In the Seitz book, Stone puts it as October 15 or 16, a month after he arrived in country and in October ‘67 in this interview. However, I lean toward the "couple of weeks" side of things. Robert Hemphill claims he arrived as commander of the 25th ID on October 1 only “a couple of weeks” after Stone - and while he has mentioned Stone's second wounding plenty of times, he's never mentioned the first, leading me to believe it occurred before he arrived. Furthermore, Stone is on the roster for the October 17, 1967 morning report.

Since he just needed shrapnel removal and stitches, it is possible that if he was injured on the night of October 15-16, he could've been treated in time to get back for the morning report the next day. But my hunch tells me that is unlikely. Platoon implies the absence was for at least a few days, and Stone has discussed his relief at getting away from the front and judgment of his platoon mates (for freezing up during the firefight) for that brief period, which doesn’t make sense if it was just for a few hours. Add to that the factor of travel and likely treatment for blood loss/shock, my guess would be he was away for at least a week, which would make the October 15 date impossible. (Update: The shooting script for Platoon states that Chris, the Stone surrogate character, was gone for a week.)

December 29, 1968: Oliver Stone's unit in the 3d Battalion, 22d Infantry, board helicopters at Dau Tieng base and fly to the spot on Route 244 that Col. Leonard Daems has chosen for the new forward outpost, Firebase Burt, five miles from the Cambodian border, near the village of Soui Cut.The 3rd Battalion build and occupied around forty bunkers on the eastern half of the perimeter.

Photo of Oliver Stone (center) by fellow 25th ID soldier Ronald Sanford

January 1-2, 1968: New Year's Day Battle of 1968. Near the junction of Highways 244 and 246 in Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam, on the Cambodian border, the 25th Infantry is overrun in a surprise attack by the 271st and 272nd Regiments of the 9th Division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). Writer Larry Heinemann, also a veteran of the battle, called this the worst and longest night of his life in his memoir Black Virgin Mountain. Also known as the Battle of Fire Base Burt or the Battle of Soui Cut. This all night, "very intense" battle is portrayed at the end of Platoon. 

January 1, 6:00 pm: Two American soldiers at an outpost outside the perimeter are killed in an ambush.

8:00 pm: The Vietnamese (PAVN/VC) shell the base briefly with mortars, likely to check the range. American ambush patrols report large numbers of enemy soldiers moving in, but are unable to open fire as the large number of enemy troops would quickly decimate them. 

11:30 pm: The Vietnamese launch their main attack against the base and fighting begins in earnest.

January 2, 1968, 2:30 am: Vietnamese soldiers breach the perimeter. Colonel Daems orders the launch of beehive rounds in defense, causing the Vietnamese to eventually fall back. Helicopter re-supply and air support arrives for the U.S. side.

3:00-4:00 am: Stone is concussed by the blast from a beehive round (and has his eardrum blown out, resulting in tinnitus and permanent deafness) while moving from one foxhole to another. Stone writes in his memoir that the beehive incident occurred when "we were finally ordered to move out to reinforce another position." This puts it likely between 3:00-4:00 am, as that is when two platoons of Bravo Company (Stone was in Second Platoon) were sent to reinforce Alpha Company, per the After Action Report: 

Between 0100 to 0230 hours, 105mm Beehive direct fire was requested and fired along Company C perimeter. VC had penetrated a portion of Company C perimeter at approximately 0200 hours. Beehive rounds eliminated penetration except for four (4) VC. From 0230 to 0400 hours, direct fire from 105mm artillery across Company C perimeter, firing Beehive until expended, then firing HE direct. Company A was reinforced by direct fire across its perimeter from 155mm artillery. At 0200 hours, Company A lost radio communications with its 16 element and two (2) or three (3) VC penetrated the perimeter. At 0300 hours, 2 platoons of Company B (reserve) were committed to reinforce and hold Company A perimeter.

As there was no concussion protocol in the Army at that time, Stone is not medically treated.

5:00 am: The battle ends. The Vietnamese have an estimated loss of 379 men killed with 8 wounded. The Americans: 23 dead with 146 wounded. In the aftermath of the battle, a concussed Stone is one of the soldiers ordered to dispose of North Vietnamese corpses in mass graves.

Photo of Oliver Stone (far right) by fellow 25th ID soldier Ronald Sanford

January 15, 1968: Stone is wounded for the second time, upon return to the border area in Tay Ninh Province.

"I was Second Platoon, and we came up to help First Platoon, which took some casualties. We were coming up, three of us, and one of the guys popped what they call a tripwire connected to a satchel, the charge in a tree. We heard it and started running from it when it blew. I was swept up and probably flew a few feet through the air and then was unconscious for a bit. When I came to I was checking my lower body to see where I had been hit and glad to feel my genitalia! And [the shrapnel] was mostly in the legs and buttocks."

Stone is evacuated via helicopter, likely to the 12th Evac Hospital, as it was the closest one, located in Cu Chi at the 25th Infantry Division headquarters. Stone remembered vividly learning of the Tet Offensive (launched on January 30, 1968) while in the hospital during his five week stint. He receives his oak leak cluster on his Purple Heart for this incident. (Technically, Army soldiers only receive one Purple Heart medal and oak leaf clusters denote each subsequent wound. Often these are popularly still called "second Purple Heart," "third Purple Heart," etc.)

While the hospitalization is a five week gap on his record, Stone may have been a patient for approximately four weeks, as he also was given a few days' R&R upon discharge to see his father in Tokyo, Japan. In Riordan's book, there is a photo of the two, and Stone captions that at dinner he was "dreading" his return to combat. (It's fair to assume that Lou Stone flew to Asia after learning his son was wounded and, as a civilian would not have been able to safely enter Vietnam, Tokyo was likely the closest suitable destination.)

February 23, 1968: Stone officially leaves Bravo Company in the 25th Infantry Division. 

February 24, 1968: Oliver Stone is assigned to C (Charlie) Company of the 52nd Infantry Regiment 716th Military Police Battalion where he serves as an auxiliary MP (military policeman) in Saigon. 

April 12, 1968: Stone leaves the MP battalion on this date. He requests combat re-assignment, which is granted, to avoid further punishment after a verbal conflict with his sergeant. 

April 13-17, 1968: Stone is temporarily assigned to headquarters company at the 13th Signal Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division.

April 18, 1968: Stone is reassigned to E (Echo) Company, LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol), 52nd Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division. He trains during this month at Camp Evans in Huế. In this unit, he meets Sgt. Juan Angel Elias, the inspiration for Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe) in Platoon. Later, Ben Fitzgerald joins the unit; he would become the basis for main character Taylor's best friend, King (Keith David).

May 23, 1968: Oliver Stone leaves the LRRPs. 

May 24-28, 1968: Stone is temporarily at the 15th Admin Company of the 1st Cavalry while waiting to be reassigned. 

May 29, 1968: Stone is assigned to Troop D, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). He would remain in this unit for rest of the war. On the same day he is assigned to this unit, Sgt. Juan Angel Elias is killed in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. He was 22 years old.

June 6, 1968: The Treasury Department of the American Consulate in Hong Kong sends a letter to Louis Stone in New York City. Lou had tried to use his connections to get his son a non-combatant duty assignment with the CIA. According to the letter, Oliver declined the offer and pointedly stated that he was "looking forward to his transfer to the 1st Cavalry Division to complete his tour of duty in combat." Given bureaucracy and the delay in mail to/from Southeast Asia at the time, it's likely that the actual offer had occurred in late winter, around the time of his second wounding, as Stone was already with the 1st Cavalry at this date.

August 21, 1968: The incident that earns Stone his Bronze Star with V-Device for "heroism in ground combat" occurs in a firefight south of My Khe (aka “China Beach”).

"That was in a particularly vicious fight inland from a beach. I remember the day started when they killed a German Shepherd scout dog I really liked. And they also got the sergeant, and the lieutenant of that platoon. At that point my platoon moved into the skirmish and it was pretty confusing for a while, and I basically ended up in this situation where I think I probably saved some lives by killing an NVA [North Vietnamese Army] sniper who'd gotten himself into a spider hole in the ground between two different units, which would've created a hell of a crossfire - and probably killed some people."

As shown on the citation, at some point prior to August Stone had been promoted to Specialist 4th Class (Spec/4).

September, 1968: Around this time, Stone signs a three month extension to his original year long tour of duty.

November 13, 1968: Stone is officially discharged from active duty. After a final eight days of processing in Saigon, he returns to the United States via the military release base at Fort Lewis, Washington and eventually moves back to his hometown of New York City. From this point on, Stone was no longer active in the military, but his records show that he was still officially in the Army as an inactive reservist (now known as Individual Ready Reserve [IRR]) until 1973. This did not require any actual responsibilities, but simply made Stone eligible to be called back into service until that date. 

April 1, 1973: Oliver Stone is officially discharged from the Army. 

[stripesandrockers]

National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California-

Members of the 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment attach shadow drones to the Iron Dragon Task Force combining lethality and effectiveness of manned and unmanned aircraft. 

Photos by Spc. Tin P. Vuong

1st Armored’s CAB is headed to Afghanistan in early 2019. 

[truecoyotez]

Clearing the Land and Making all Indians Good: The Massacre at Bear River, Utah

Clearing the Land and Making all Indians Good: The Massacre at Bear River, Utah

  William F. Drennan

In 1856, the California Volunteers under Colonel Patrick E. Connor (3rd Volunteer Regiment, California Cavalry), massacred three thousand Ute (Shoshone) Indians in Cash Valley (Cache Valley-Battle of Bear River, February 20, 1863), Utah. The journalistic book written by William F. Drennan addresses over 30 years of his experiences in the West. William F. Drennan, a seeming…

[rylredrants]

20 Years Ago

It’s been 20 years since that day. And just like I wrote in the only ‘memory’ referencing 9/11 on my Facebook, I don’t want to jump on a bandwagon or soapbox. I don’t want to join the throngs of people answering the question that, for those of my generation, needs no explanation… “Where were you when?”

But I can’t not write today.

For me, the where was easy. I was in Colorado Springs.

To say it’s an area with a large military community doesn’t do justice to the sentiment. The Air Force Academy, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Stations, Fort Carson Army Post, Peterson Air Force Base, and Schriever Air Force Base are all within an hour’s drive, give or take traffic. My new husband was stationed at Fort Carson, a Cavalry Scout.

My mother called me in hysterics- which was not unusual, waking me up earlier than normal. I was working at the Olive Garden as a server. My daughter was 4 years old.

I got up, took her to daycare, and went to work. There was a TV on the same kind of AV cart we got excited about in school sitting inside the server’s station on one side. We didn’t have customer-facing televisions and this was long before smartphones were in everyone’s pockets.

Another military spouse showed up for her shift, unaware of the events. She turned around to go home. She lived on Fort Carson and didn’t get through the gate for several hours.

That evening, I was part of a small sleepover of sorts where a handful of us “Scout Wives” held vigil together- crying and waiting for some kind of news from our husbands. The post was locked down tight. We didn’t get to hold them in our arms until the evening of September 12th.

The “where” is an easy question.

I think the bigger question is “WHO were you when? And who did you become in the aftermath?

Twenty years ago, I was a 22-year-old newlywed. He was my 2ndhusband- a cute boy in a green uniform with bright blue eyes, a grin for miles, and a quirky little gap between his front teeth. He had deployed to Bosnia straight out of basic training. We met in a bar within weeks of his return to the states, around Valentine’s Day of 2001.

The day the towers fell, he still was not old enough to legally buy a beer.

I had already rebuilt my life once when I left California and split up with my daughter’s father. Our new life was just beginning, but when my mother wailed, “You just married a soldier and we’re going to WAR!” I felt it. I felt my entire life unraveling again.

We moved to Germany the following spring where he was almost immediately sent to Kosovo. It was slated to be a 6-month tour. His replacement unit was sent to Iraq as part of OIF 1, so they extended their mission to 9 months. From there, there were moves back to Colorado, a separation, reconciliation, a move to Texas, and 2 more deployments to Iraq.

By the time we separated, I was 30 years old. We owned a home and he was slated for a third deployment to Iraq. The TBI (traumatic brain injury), PTSD, migraines, and back problems were so bad that he did not deploy, and was medically discharged before his 30th birthday.

We stayed on friendly terms for another decade, but every time I saw pictures of his new life and new wife I felt all of it all over again. He still had the big grin, but the sparkle in his eyes was gone.

That man has his name, his fingerprints, and his DNA but little else remained of the boy I married all those years ago. My husband went to war, but despite coming back upright and without a flag draped over his body, he never came back.

This is one of those things that people outside the military community don’t often realize. Whether or not you wear the uniform, war changes you. Military families deal with their own stress, trauma, loneliness, and fear from having loved ones in a warzone for weeks, months, and sometimes years at a time.

Waiting for that telegraph, knock on the door, or news story that mentions their unit… that part has changed over the years but living in that constant state of dread is the same.

It’s a state of anticipatory grief… waiting for the moment when the grief process will begin and be recognized by those around you.

When the same uniform walks through the door, the rest of the world sees the happiness of a homecoming.

But for so many, that happiness is often quickly replaced with learning who the person wearing the uniform has become in their absence.

New kinds of stress, trauma, loneliness, and fear often follow.

The stress of readjusting to sharing your home. The trauma, packed neatly away in their rucksack spills out all over the floor with their gear. Then comes the loneliness when they isolate and disconnect, and fear that you will become the target of their anger.

When my soldier returned, his drug of choice was video games. I called myself a ‘PlayStation Widow’ because he would spend every waking moment outside of work with a controller in hand, often not getting up to eat, drink or even smoke. His anger was most pronounced in his road rage- yelling, swearing, speeding, and tailgating.

I learned to manage his anger with my tears.

The rage would take hold and I would take responsibility for it, trying to figure out how I could have caused it. ‘What did I do? How can I fix this? What does he need?’ Eventually, I realized that he only calmed down once I’d become so spun up into it that I’d broken down in my own panic.

Over a decade later, when my current partner, Pirate, is struggling with his mental health, my first instinct is still to take responsibility.

It’s only because of the therapy, medication, and communication, on both sides, that I’m able to acknowledge and support him without taking it on as my own.

I swore I’d never get involved with military personnel again when that marriage ended.

What I hadn’t considered is that relationships are often brought about by proximity. I’ve lived near military installations for most of my adult life- Forts Carson, Hood, Meade, and Huachuca stateside, plus 2 years in Germany.

Friends, lovers, 2 ex-husbands, and my current partner have all brought their own trauma-filled rucksacks along with them, and into my life.

They each had their own experiences and their own way of handling things.

Dirty D had a picture on his MySpace of himself crouched down, naked, pistol in hand that was taken shortly before he was hospitalized for holding the gun to his head. I was friendly with his wives and girlfriends, including the one he moved to Idaho with to live off the grid on a hand-built homestead.

Taz was working nights as a bouncer when we met. He was sent to Germany only to be medically discharged and returned to Texas because his body was too damaged from previous trips to “the sandbox” to deploy again.

The Postman shared stories he wrote about his time in Mogadishu, Somalia. You probably know that as the place where "Black Hawk Down" happened. We met while he was on leave from Iraq and he later emailed more stories to me from Afghanistan.

The Mad Scientist once talked about being with his unit early on during Operation Iraqi freedom. Food was scarce so they were only getting one MRE a day. He had a stash of candy bars that he broke small pieces off from to share with the guys in his unit that were struggling the most with hunger.

MM also experienced those lean rations and hunger along with going days on end unable to get clean. The bulk of his PTSD revolved around food and cleanliness.

We once drove over 3 hours to go to a ‘Princess Bride’ themed burlesque show. The venue said they had food, and we didn’t have time to get dinner before going to the theater. When he discovered that the concession stand was closed he had a meltdown, leaving me alone to go get a hamburger at a bar down the block.

Pirate has nightmares, crying out in his sleep and trembling so violently that our bed shakes. He was medically discharged from the Army before his unit deployed. He lives with survivor’s guilt on top of the PTSD he developed as a 5-year-old missionary kid in Kenya during a civil uprising.

And none of this takes into account the first responders, civilians, and all of their families who have been impacted by this.

Here we are 20 years later...

I just saw a video where a teacher discussed telling her students about 9/11. She explained that there were 3 targets that symbolized the very idea of America in their own way. The World Trade Center was a representation of the American economic power, the Pentagon is a symbol of military power, and the 3rd target, the Capitol is the seat of our democracy.

20 years later, the 3rd target was attacked again.

This time, the attack did not come from foreign powers but instead from home-grown terrorists, radicalized to believe the blatant lies of a spray-tanned reality TV star who is spending this anniversary as a ringside commentator at a casino boxing match in Florida. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

We are in a politicized pandemic that quite literally almost killed my own mother last week. I’m living in the hottest city in America where we moved for a job that Pirate was fired from 3 weeks after we signed our year-long lease.

Oh, and the Capitol police have requested the fences be put back up for the “Justice for J6” rally next weekend. These 'very fine people' are gathering to show solidarity for those who literally smeared shit on the halls of our democracy.

Showing support for those arrested for assaults that left several people injured. Five people died shortly before, during, or after the event, and 4 officers who responded to the riot died by suicide in the months since.

Today there are people all over social media posting stories of where they were that day.

But others are the younger people who have been taught to “remember” an event that was little more to their personal history than a scary movie on TV. They were too young or too far removed from it to carry the same scars as those who lived through the events of that day and all that came after.

I’m glad they only have to perform the remembrance rather than experience it. But for the rest of us, I think that it is part of the healing to look back on this anniversary and say,

“I was there. I was present. That day changed my life in ways that still matter to me.”

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

March came in like a lion; will it go out with a Lamb? Voters in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District will decide that on Tuesday as they vote in the first of many federal elections in 2018. Like in previous races for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District and Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, the party that wins the Pennsylvania special election will be said to have the momentum heading into the pivotal midterm elections later this year. In our view, that’s a bit overblown — in reality, it’s the margin of victory that tells us what to expect in midterm results, and Democrat Conor Lamb is likely to overperform in Pennsylvania no matter who wins. We will still be watching that margin closely, though, and a decisive victory by Republican Rick Saccone could be a sign that that something in the political environment has changed. So here’s what you need to know to follow the race.

1. The partisanship

This seat became vacant in October 2017 after the resignation of GOP Rep. Tim Murphy, who admitted to an extramarital affair and allegedly asked his mistress to have an abortion despite his stated pro-life views. Before the scandal, the Republican had won eight consecutive elections in this district1 by margins of no fewer than 15 percentage points. In both 2014 and 2016, no Democrat even bothered to run against Murphy. President Trump carried the 18th District by nearly 20 points (58 percent to 39 percent); Mitt Romney won it by a similar margin in 2012. According to FiveThirtyEight’s weighted average of presidential results,2 the Pennsylvania 18th is 21 percentage points more Republican-leaning than the nation as a whole.

That’s very red — but so were most of the other places where we’ve seen special elections so far this cycle, and Democrats in the vast majority of those races have consistently done better than the partisan leans of their districts would predict. The margin in federal special elections specifically has moved 16 points toward Democrats compared to each constituency’s usual partisan lean. If that happens again in Pennsylvania, Democrats will be nipping at Republicans’ heels.

How will Dems perform in Pennsylvania’s 18th district?

Special elections this cycle, by the constituency’s partisan lean* and final vote margin

Year Date Seat Partisan Lean Vote margin Dem. Swing 2017 April 4 California 34th† D+69 D+87 +18 April 11 Kansas 4th R+29 R+6 +23 May 25 Montana At-Large R+21 R+6 +16 June 20 Georgia 6th R+9 R+4 +6 June 20 South Carolina 5th R+19 R+3 +16 Nov. 7 Utah 3rd R+35 R+32 +3 Dec. 12 Alabama U.S. Senate R+29 D+2 +31 2018 March 13 Pennsylvania 18th R+21 ? ?

* The average difference between how the constituency voted and how the country voted overall in the last two presidential elections, with 2016 weighted 75 percent and 2012 weighted 25 percent.

† Primary results used because both general-election candidates were from the same party. Primary included multiple Democratic candidates, and results show vote share for all Democratic candidates combined.

Source: Daily Kos Elections, secretaries of state

But there’s reason to believe the swing in Pennsylvania could be even greater. First, in special elections for Pennsylvania state legislative offices this cycle, Democrats have outperformed expectations to an even greater degree: a 29-point shift in the margin. Second, the Pennsylvania 18th is actually ancestrally Democratic. Before Murphy was elected in 2002, the area3 was represented by Democrat Frank Mascara, who opposed abortion and gun control and projected a blue-collar image. That legacy lingers today in the fact that there are still more registered Democrats in the district than registered Republicans (46 percent of registered voters to 41 percent). Even though they’ve grown accustomed to voting Republican for president, voters in the 18th clearly aren’t opposed to casting a ballot for Democrats under the right circumstances. For example, the area currently within the 18th Congressional District voted for Sen. Bob Casey, who also campaigned as a pro-life, pro-gun Democrat, by 11 points in 2006.

2. The players

And lo and behold, Lamb fits the same socially-conservative-Democrat mold. A 33-year-old former federal prosecutor and Marine, Lamb says he is personally opposed to abortion4 and opposes new gun control laws. His GOP opponent Saccone, meanwhile, is a four-term state representative who brags he “was Trump before Trump was Trump.” Saccone is known as a rock-ribbed conservative but not as a strong fundraiser: He has raised almost $920,000 for the race and claimed just over $300,000 cash on hand as of Feb. 21. By contrast, Lamb has raked in $3.9 million and was sitting on a nearly $840,000 war chest.

Saccone won’t lack for resources, however, thanks to the GOP cavalry. As of Friday, independent-expenditure groups, including the Congressional Leadership Fund and National Republican Congressional Committee, had spent almost $10.5 million to prop up Saccone; Democratic outside groups had put in just $1.8 million. Even with Lamb’s $3.1 million in spending, liberal forces are being heavily outspent. The Democratic dollars are going farther, however, because candidates benefit from lower TV advertising rates than outside groups do. As of the beginning of March, 42 percent of broadcast TV ads aired so far were pro-Lamb, while 58 percent were pro-Saccone.

3. The polling

Four pollsters5 have surveyed the Pennsylvania 18th in the past month, and they all agree that the race is within the margin of error. Here are the latest numbers:

Latest polls of the Pennsylvania 18th special election

Dates Pollster 538 Pollster Rating Lamb Saccone Mar. 6–8 RABA Research C+ 48% 44% Mar. 1–5 Gravis Marketing B- 42 45 Mar. 1–3 Emerson College B 48 45 Feb. 12–14 Monmouth University A+ 46 49 Average 46 46

The two candidates are essentially tied in the average of the polls (although, for what it’s worth, Monmouth, the only FiveThirtyEight gold-standard pollster6 to look at the race, has Saccone ahead by 3 points7). However, despite the fact that the polls show a tight race, even a runaway win by one of these candidates wouldn’t be that much of a shocker. Polls of U.S. House races already carry a lot of uncertainty, and they’re even less reliable for special elections. Since 2004, polls taken within three weeks of a special House election have missed the final result by an average of 5 percentage points, and their true margin of error was 13 percentage points in either direction.

4. The political geography

Taking in coal mines, covered bridges, wealthy suburbs and lush state parks, the Pennsylvania 18th stretches from Pennsylvania’s southwest corner up north past Pittsburgh International Airport to the Ohio River, then cuts east across the Monongahela River to the Laurel Highlands. It encompasses parts of four counties: Allegheny (home to 43 percent of the district’s voters, based on 2016 presidential results), Westmoreland (33 percent), Washington (22 percent) and Greene (2 percent).

The 18th District’s slice of Allegheny County consists of Pittsburgh’s southwestern suburbs and is a swing region — Democrats typically find most of their votes here. The other three counties, more rural and far-flung, are normally Republican strongholds, although they have strong historical ties to organized labor, a traditionally Democratic constituency.

If you’re watching the special election results as they come in (polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern), pay attention to these county-by-county variations; they can help you project the ultimate winner. Assuming that the whole district shifts left or right uniformly (more on this in a second), we’ve calculated an approximate benchmark for how we would expect each county to vote if the election were exactly tied districtwide. If the counties are voting more Republican than their benchmarks, then Saccone is on pace to win. If they’re voting more Democratic, then Lamb is ahead. (The not-so-grisly math behind these benchmarks: We used the same weighted average of the last two presidential elections to arrive at a partisan lean for each county, then moved it 21 points in Democrats’ direction — because that’s how much the entire district needs to shift leftward to deliver Lamb a victory.)

County benchmarks for Pennsylvania’s 18th District

How each county might vote if the race were tied districtwide

Presidential margin County 2016 Vote Share 2012 2016 Partisan Lean Benchmark Allegheny 43% R+8 R+4 R+7 D+14 Westmoreland 33% R+27 R+34 R+35 R+13 Washington 22% R+18 R+27 R+27 R+6 Greene 2% R+25 R+43 R+41 R+19 Total 100% R+17 R+20 R+21 EVEN

* The average difference between how the county voted and how the country voted overall in the last two presidential elections, with 2016 weighted 75 percent and 2012 weighted 25 percent.

Source: Daily Kos Elections

Granted, the district may not shift uniformly. Westmoreland, Washington and Greene all voted much more Republican with Trump on the ticket than with Romney, while Trump seemed to scare away some Romney voters in Allegheny. Lamb’s Blue Dog appeal may mean he wins over more Obama-Trump voters than Romney-Clinton voters, making the 2016 election a poor template for 2018. In such a scenario, it’s quite possible that Lamb misses the mark in Allegheny but still wins the election by overperforming in Westmoreland and Washington, so use these benchmarks with a grain of salt.

5. The aftermath

Tuesday will likely be the last time you hear about a competitive district in the Pennsylvania 18th, but whoever emerges victorious in the special will likely have to fight hard to keep his seat in the regularly scheduled November 2018 election. How can this be? Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state’s current congressional map as too gerrymandered in favor of the GOP; in February, the court imposed new district lines that are friendlier to Democrats. The new map splits most of the current 18th District between the new heavily Republican 14th District and the swingier, suburban 17th District.

If Saccone wins on Tuesday, he has said that he would seek re-election in the 14th, but if Lamb wins, he is expected to go after the 17th, even though he would have to face incumbent Republican Rep. Keith Rothfus there. Of course, the loser could decide to take a second bite of the apple in either the 14th or the 17th as well. After all these long hours of campaigning and millions of dollars spent, it’s entirely possible that, at the beginning of 2019, Conor Lamb and Rick Saccone will both be members of Congress.

Both will also have to decide their next moves almost immediately after the last drink is poured at their election-night watch parties on Tuesday. The deadline to file to run in November is March 20, one week later.

[breezyqueer-blog]

The massacre in Las Vegas is the worst mass shooting only in recent memory of USA. But it didn't have the most casualties. It's not the only one, and, sadly, it will not be the last, considering we have gun-fucking, genocidal white supremacists in the White House that refuse to do anything about this. This is a white terrorist act, and the media sought to humanize the killer once again.

In 2016, the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando Florida is currently the deadliest massacre of the LGBTQ community in USA. This surpassed the UpStairs Lounge arson attack in New Orleans Louisiana that killed 32 LGBTQ people in 1973. 49 people were lost that night. Most of them were people of color, including Puerto Rican descendants. Even after this tragedy, there is still a blood ban against LGBTQ people in this forsaken country.

Here are some examples of the deadliest mass shootings in USA history. The tribes people of the First Nations of this continent were deliberately massacred, and USA was responsible for these attacks.

"Sand Creek: November 29, 1864, Kiowa County, Colorado. - 163 Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women, and children were killed. After that initial attack, 400 more of their people were killed at Sand Creek, according to the Southern Cheyenne Chief, Laird Cometsevah. - Murderers: US Army Colonel John Chivington, a methodist preacher, and the 1st Colorado Cavalry, 3rd Colorado Cavalry, and a company of the 1st Regiment New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry

Marias River: January 23, 1870. Marias River, Montana. - Piegan Blackfeet tribes people. 15 men, 212 women and children, 50 of those children were just under the age of 12. - Murderers: 2nd US Cavalry Regiment and 13th US Infantry Regiment.

Wounded Knee: December 29th, 1890. Pine Ridge, South Dakota. - 150-300 Lakota men, women, and children. - Murderers: 7th US cavalry regiment. 20 Medals of Honor awarded.

Bear River: January 29th, 1863. Franklin County, Idaho. - 410 Shoshone men, women, and children. - Murderers: 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry.

Yontocket: Autumn of 1853. Yontocket, Del Norte County, California. - 250-600 Tolowa men, women, elders, and children were killed in the middle of their prayer ceremony. After the attack, one eyewitness saw the murderers burn live infants of the slain Tolowa villagers, including their sacred ceremonial clothing and tribal artifacts. - Murderers: Crescent City California militia.

Medals of Honor were awarded. The largest mass shootings, mass murders, were legal actions, with legal assault weapons, carried out by US government, state government representatives, and local citizen militias and were celebrated by the United States."

[livinginlandmarketing]

Black people have served in the American military since the Revolutionary War, including through slavery and segregation.

The 2020 Portrait of African American Active Duty and Civilian Employment in the U.S. Department of Defense offered this outlook:

In the news

Gen. Lloyd Austin III

On Jan. 22, Austin became the 28th U.S. defense secretary for the Biden administration. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and served in the Army from 1975 to 2016, where he retired as a four-star general.Just a few of his responsibilities included being in charge of the U.S. Central Command, serving as vice chief of staff of the Army and commanding the U.S. Forces in Iraq.

California connections

Adm. Michelle Howard

Born in Riverside County at March Air Force Base, Howard is a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982. She became the highest ranking woman in U.S. armed forces history and the highest ranking Black person and woman in Navy history. Howard also became the first female four-star admiral to command operational forces when she assumed command of United States Naval Forces Europe and Naval Forces Africa. Howard retired on Dec. 1, 2017, after nearly 36 years of service.

Lt. Col. Theodor Lumpkin

Born in Los Angeles and a graduate of Jefferson High School, Lumpkin was drafted in 1942 while attending UCLA. He became one of dozens of Tuskegee Airmen from Los Angeles.

The Army Air Forces program in Tuskegee was established to train Black military pilots and recruits and had some of the most decorated pilots serving in World War II. There were approximately 990 pilots among 14,000 personnel in the unit.

Lumpkin returned to Los Angeles after the war and studied at USC. He later started a real estate company that he remained active in until his death on Dec. 26, just days before his 101st birthday.

Delphine Metcalf-Foster

Retired Army veteran Delphine Metcalf-Foster was the first female and first African American national commander of the 1.3 million-member Disabled American Veterans. Metcalf-Foster is from Vallejo, and followed in the footsteps of her father, a Buffalo soldier, by pursuing a career in the U.S. Army. Her military career included service with the U.S. Army Reserve, 689th Quartermaster Unit, 6253rd Hospital Unit and 6211th Transportation Unit, Letterman Army Medical Center. She retired after 21 years of service with the rank of first sergeant in 1996.

Learn more at www.dav.org.

  Through the years

March 5, 1770: Crispus Attucks is shot and killed while confronting British troops during the Boston Massacre.

June 17, 1775: Peter Salem fights valiantly alongside other American colonists against British forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston.

An estimated 5,000 Black people fought on the patriot side against the British during the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783.

About 180,000 Black people wore Union blue and earned praise for their military skill during the American Civil War, fought 1861-1865. Twenty-five received the Medal of Honor for bravery during the war.

July 28, 1866: The U.S. Congress passes legislation creating the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiments for service on the American frontier.

The Black cavalrymen fought in the Southwest and guarded lands from poachers. The Indians called the cavalrymen Buffalo Soldiers. Some of the units were active until 1951.

During the course of the Indian Wars fought from 1866 to the early 1890s, 13 enlisted men and six officers from the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry Regiments and two Black infantry units earned the Medal of Honor.

Five Black soldiers earned Medals of Honor for their heroism during the Spanish American War of 1898. They defeated Spanish troops alongside Lt. Col. Teddy Roosevelt and his volunteer unit of “Rough Riders.”

  World War 1

Black troops eagerly volunteered for military service and served with distinction following America’s entry into World War I in April 1917. By the war’s end on Nov. 11, 1918, more than 350,000 Black people had served with the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in Europe.

Aug. 1, 1941: Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first Black general officer in the regular Army and the U.S. armed forces.

World War II

Dec. 7, 1941: Navy Ship’s Cook 3rd Class Dorie Miller shoots down four Japanese planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and earns the Navy Cross.

March 7, 1942: The first group of pilots to graduate from military flight school at the Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., was inducted into the Army Air Corps.

Aug.-Nov. 1944: Thousands of truck drivers for the “Red Ball Express” risk life and limb to deliver desperately needed fuel, food and ammunition to Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army as it pushed German forces eastward out of France during World War II.

More than 1 million Black people served in the U.S. armed forces during America’s participation in World War II from 1941-1945.

July 26, 1948: President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981. It states: “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the president that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”

Korean War

More than 600,000 Black service members served in the armed forces during the Korean War (1950-53). Two Black Army sergeants, Cornelius H. Charlton and William Thompson, earned the Medal of Honor during the conflict.

1954: Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first Black general in the U.S. Air Force.

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War (1962-1975) Black Americans continued to join the armed forces in large numbers. There were 20 who received the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

July 1, 1973: The U.S. ends military conscription and adopts an all-volunteer military. Black people made up about 17% of the military’s enlisted force in 1973. By the early 1980s, they made up nearly 24% of the enlisted force.

Sept. 1, 1975: A Tuskeegee Airman in World War II, Air Force Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James becomes the first four-star Black general in the U.S. armed forces.

Oct. 1, 1989: Army Gen. Colin L. Powell becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the most-senior Black military officer in U.S. history. During his tenure as chairman, Powell managed military participation in the Gulf War (1990-91). He served as JCS chairman until Sept. 30, 1993. Powell later served as secretary of state in President George W. Bush’s administration.

Sources: Department of Defense, Library of Congress, History.com, National World War II Museum.Photos from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons

-on February 10, 2021 at 05:49AM by Kurt Snibbe

[usarmyhuntingtonbeachrecrui-blog]

#Repost @goarmy A #USArmy Combat Mule, assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, pulls security during training at Fort Polk, April 1, 2019. Jasper is the first mule trained and inducted into this new Mule 6 Unit. 🙌 #AnimalsWhoServe #ArmyTeam #covert #livestock #April1 #Hooah#hb #huntingtonbeach #surfcity #costamesa #fountainvalley #Newport #NewportBeach #sealbeach #occ #gwc #orangecounty #westminster #hbrecruiting (at Fountain Valley, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvuywMoHZTb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=10gjvn75rnenm

[courtneytincher]

U.S. Army’s newest electronic warfare vehicle was tested in Fort Irwin

The U.S. Army has announced that its newest electronic warfare vehicle was tested at the Army’s toughest training ground, the National Training Center in Fort Irwin California.

According to a statement, Electronic Warfare Soldiers from 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team “Greywolf,” 1st Cavalry Division conducted electronic attack and electronic support operations during the month-long exercise using the Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle or EWTV.

“Our main purpose was to provide support by denying communications to the enemy, jamming comms,” said Sgt. First Class Cristian Holguin, the EWTV team leader. “In addition we were able to listen in on FM communications from the enemy and detect enemy electronic signatures to use for call for fire missions.”

The brigade received the Army’s first dedicated electronic warfare vehicle in September of 2018 in time to test it out during the Brigade’s external evaluation, Pegasus Forge III, at Fort Hood, Texas. The team then provided feedback to the team at the Rapid Equipping Force, which had developed the vehicle.

“It’s like version one of the system. And for being version one it is a very good system,” said Holguin. “The folks at REF listened to our feedback following Pegasus Forge and actually were making upgrades to the vehicle as we were on ground at NTC.”

According to Staff Sgt. Darron McCracken, a EWTV operator, the shortened timetable between Pegasus Forge and NTC presented a challenge to the team, but they were able to overcome them and help integrate the system fully at the brigade and battalion-levels.

“Initially the battalions were a little skeptical of the system. Not only was it an asset they had to provide forces to help protect, but it’s a pretty big vehicle as well,” he said. “But once they saw what it could do and they benefited from its effects, they recognized the benefits of the system.”

The near-peer enemy along with the terrain and elements that the Brigade faced at NTC made it an ideal environment to test the EWTV. Once the force-on-force fight was completed, the team conducted situational training that helped further test the capabilities of the vehicle.

“We worked on finding ways to better improve our jamming and detection capabilities,” said Staff Sgt. Francisco Becerra, a EWTV Operator. “For instance, we learned by raising the antenna two more inches we were able to getter better lines of bearing. These are things that you can’t necessarily test out in the middle of a fight.” 

Measuring the performance of the vehicle at NTC was sometimes difficult to do since there was no immediate feedback through real time measures and sensors. According to Holguin it is something that NTC is working to improve, however they were able to validate and measure effects in other ways.

“There are two aspects of performance. Performance of the equipment and performance of the teams themselves,” Holguin said. “And I think we’ve accomplished more than we expected for integration and employment; having and using the EWTV validated our position as an effective asset on the battlefield.”

Greywolf was the first to test the vehicle in an austere environment against a near-peer foe, but they won’t be the last. The EWTVs belong to III Corps and are being moved to other units so that their teams can test them and add their inputs to improve the system. 

“The intent is to take all of the lessons learned and build on it,” said McCracken. “Towards the end of the process we will have an SOP, something that is predictable and can be translated across the Army.”

When asked if, after testing it out at NTC, they felt it was an effective system, McCracken answered, “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

The new vehicle was developed to provide Army Electronic Warfare Teams with the ability to detect and attack in the electromagnetic spectrum from an operationally relevant range at the brigade combat team level. It was developed by the Rapid Equipping Force to give the Army’s Brigade Combat Team a dedicated electronic warfare vehicle.

Army’s new Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle

from Defence Blog

The U.S. Army has announced that its newest electronic warfare vehicle was tested at the Army’s toughest training ground, the National Training Center in Fort Irwin California.

According to a statement, Electronic Warfare Soldiers from 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team “Greywolf,” 1st Cavalry Division conducted electronic attack and electronic support operations during the month-long exercise using the Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle or EWTV.

“Our main purpose was to provide support by denying communications to the enemy, jamming comms,” said Sgt. First Class Cristian Holguin, the EWTV team leader. “In addition we were able to listen in on FM communications from the enemy and detect enemy electronic signatures to use for call for fire missions.”

The brigade received the Army’s first dedicated electronic warfare vehicle in September of 2018 in time to test it out during the Brigade’s external evaluation, Pegasus Forge III, at Fort Hood, Texas. The team then provided feedback to the team at the Rapid Equipping Force, which had developed the vehicle.

“It’s like version one of the system. And for being version one it is a very good system,” said Holguin. “The folks at REF listened to our feedback following Pegasus Forge and actually were making upgrades to the vehicle as we were on ground at NTC.”

According to Staff Sgt. Darron McCracken, a EWTV operator, the shortened timetable between Pegasus Forge and NTC presented a challenge to the team, but they were able to overcome them and help integrate the system fully at the brigade and battalion-levels.

“Initially the battalions were a little skeptical of the system. Not only was it an asset they had to provide forces to help protect, but it’s a pretty big vehicle as well,” he said. “But once they saw what it could do and they benefited from its effects, they recognized the benefits of the system.”

The near-peer enemy along with the terrain and elements that the Brigade faced at NTC made it an ideal environment to test the EWTV. Once the force-on-force fight was completed, the team conducted situational training that helped further test the capabilities of the vehicle.

“We worked on finding ways to better improve our jamming and detection capabilities,” said Staff Sgt. Francisco Becerra, a EWTV Operator. “For instance, we learned by raising the antenna two more inches we were able to getter better lines of bearing. These are things that you can’t necessarily test out in the middle of a fight.” 

Measuring the performance of the vehicle at NTC was sometimes difficult to do since there was no immediate feedback through real time measures and sensors. According to Holguin it is something that NTC is working to improve, however they were able to validate and measure effects in other ways.

“There are two aspects of performance. Performance of the equipment and performance of the teams themselves,” Holguin said. “And I think we’ve accomplished more than we expected for integration and employment; having and using the EWTV validated our position as an effective asset on the battlefield.”

Greywolf was the first to test the vehicle in an austere environment against a near-peer foe, but they won’t be the last. The EWTVs belong to III Corps and are being moved to other units so that their teams can test them and add their inputs to improve the system. 

“The intent is to take all of the lessons learned and build on it,” said McCracken. “Towards the end of the process we will have an SOP, something that is predictable and can be translated across the Army.”

When asked if, after testing it out at NTC, they felt it was an effective system, McCracken answered, “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

The new vehicle was developed to provide Army Electronic Warfare Teams with the ability to detect and attack in the electromagnetic spectrum from an operationally relevant range at the brigade combat team level. It was developed by the Rapid Equipping Force to give the Army’s Brigade Combat Team a dedicated electronic warfare vehicle.

Army’s new Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle

via IFTTT

[markerhunter]

Summary Statement, 2nd Quarter, 1863 – Miscellaneous (3rd California Infantry)

The last entry lines for the second quarter, 1863 came under the heading of “Miscellaneous”:

Both lines are attributed to the 3rd California Infantry.  And this raises several questions.  For the last quarter of 1862, the 3rd California held an entry line with two 6-pdr field guns and two 12-pdr mountain howitzers at Camp Douglas, Utah Territory.  That section was not mentioned for the first…

[yourblogspot-blog]

Vanessa Guillen

Injustice is shown to many different people, in many different ways, due to many different things. Recently my main goal has been to highlight the injustices our fellow African American community faces on a daily basis due to the color of their skin. Although there are far more heartbreaking stories that could be told about those injustices, right now I want to shine some light on the injustice Vanessa Guillen faced as a Fort Hood soldier. Vanessa Guillen was a 20 year old small arms repairer in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment with aspirations of one day being transferred to Germany. Family members stated that Guillen had come to them about the sexual harassment she had faced from other soldiers but hadn’t gone to her superiors because they have never taken action when other women had reported this same man. Vanessa was last seen alive on April 22, and her remains were finally found on June 30. Since the news of Vanessa’s murder has hit lines, while people are absolutely furious over the way the Army let down this young girl, other Army women have spoken out on the harassment they faced while stationed as well. The amount of stories I have read from women who experienced sexual assault from male soldiers in their station is sickening, and when speaking up on the situation, they were looked down upon while their sergeants turned a blind eye. The death of an innocent woman has drawn a spotlight to the sexual assault and harassment that women face in the military and sparked a military ‘Me Too’ Movement. Jackie Speier, whom represents California’s 14th Congressional District, stated, “For the Guillen family, this is a tragedy that defies description. For women in uniform, it’s another lost sister and reminder why they can never let down their guard. Senator Gillibrand and I want to know what the Army knew, when they knew it and what could have been done to avoid this!” According to the annual report done by the DoD on sexual assault in the military, there was a 3% increase from 2018, now seeing over 7,800 reports by members of the US Military. In actuality the number is much higher than that due to many of the victims not coming forward about their assaults due to the lack of action taken. Women need to be protected, men need to be held accountable, and justice needs to be served. #JusticeforVanessa

[thewizardosz]

Vanessa Guillen: Soldier’s mom says a sergeant sexually harassed daughter before she vanished, calls for FBI to take over case

“I feel there is a break in trust because me being her mother, I deserve to know, but they refuse to give me any details because it’s an ongoing investigation. What I don’t understand is how some information still reaches me but by word of mouth by soldiers. It’s not fair that they know and I don’t.”Gloria is now pushing for the case to be given “fully to the FBI.” Currently, the Army Criminal Investigation Command leads the investigation.“It’s long nights of agony and sadness to think that she’s suffering so much being kept away from her family,” Gloria added.Where is Vanessa Guillen?Mayra, who visited her sister twice at Fort Hood before she vanished, previously told CrimeOnline’s Nancy Grace that she had to go through a security gate and visitor’s center before she could enter the base. She also had to undergo a background check and provide fingerprints. She said that her car was inspected each time for additional passengers.While it’s unclear if any additional visitors met Guillen on base before she vanished, Mayra said there should be a record of visitors who enter Fort Hood.Fort Hood spokesperson Tom Rheinlander previously said in a statement that around 500 soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment had searched for Guillen throughout the base. Search teams eventually became smaller as groups formed to search targeted areas.Rheinlander reportedly claimed that the Army CID was in contact with the family and kept them informed about the investigation. He admitted that since the case is ongoing, however, that officials have not released a lot of information, to “safeguard the process,” according to Stripes.Guillen, who was born and raised in the Houston area, is described as a Hispanic female who stands 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 126 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. She has three tattoos: a cross with a flower and a flower, both on her left arm, and a mountain on her upper left shoulder. She also has a mole on the left side of her chin.An eyewitness reportedly saw Vanessa near her barracks on the day she disappeared. She was wearing black Nike shoes, a black Nike shirt and purple leggings.Family members said that Guillen not only loved to jog but has always been avid about sports and learning. She graduated in the top 15% of her high school class, where she played soccer and remained active with other physical activities.Guillen had always dreamed of serving and protecting her country.The U.S. Army CID is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for credible tips that lead to Guillen. Anyone with any information on the missing soldier’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Army CID Special Agents at 254-495-7767 or the Military Police Desk at 254-287-4001.Meanwhile, the family created a GoFundMe page to help raise money to hire a private investigator.Check back for updates.For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.

Join Nancy Grace for her new online video series designed to help you protect what you love most – your children.[Feature Photo: Vanessa Guillen/Handout] ShareTweet Ads by RevcontentSPONSORED CONTENT30 Items Turn Dangerous The Moment They ExpireUnpuzzle FinanceHe Cut Down Old Tree and Had to Call AuthoritiesUnpuzzle FinanceHow To Empty Your Bowels Every Morning - Top Surgeon Explains HowGuthealthwellnessTop Doctor: One Method To Lower Blood Sugar (Genius!)WeeklyPenny12x Better Than Solar Panels? Prepper's Invention Takes Country by Storm!Daily Trend ClubMD: If You Have Toenail Fungus, Do This Immediately (Watch)Clear Nail PlusMORE CRIMEMURDER‘Suspect down’: Manhunt ends for suspect who allegedly killed 1 man, wounded at least 4 police officersMURDERManhunt under way for suspect who allegedly shot California deputy in the face, killed homeless manATTEMPTED MURDERMom who bought casket for starved teen son who weighed 51 pounds proclaims her innocence in new TV seriesMURDER‘I don’t regret what I did’: Resident says he killed sex offender neighbor after seeing him eyeing children [Reports]AMBER ALERTAMBER Alert: 5-month-old boy abducted in central GeorgiaNewsletter SignupDo you want to read more articles like this?UPDATESEmail AddressSign Up NowGuillen also told her mother that felt that the base was “evil,” and had trouble sleeping at night, something that never happened to her before. Guillen’s fear at the base was one of the reasons she didn’t want her mother to report the sergeant. She felt getting her mother too involved would lead to trouble for Gloria.“She [Guillen] told her [Gloria] she wanted to take care of it. Well, now look at happened,” Mayra Guillen added, referencing her sister’s disappearance.Gloria added that she doesn’t trust the military investigators assigned to the case, who have allegedly refused to answer her questions.As the desperate search continues for missing Fort Hood soldier, Vanessa Guillen, her mother is hoping confidential information her daughter shared with her will lead to answers.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Guillen, 20 was reportedly last seen on April 22 at around 1 p.m. at the parking lot of the Regimental Engineer Squadron Headquarters, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, in Fort Hood, Texas. Guillen left behind her car keys, barracks room key, identification card, and wallet in the Arms room, where she works.

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Despite exhaustive searches between family members, volunteers, and soldiers, Guillen is still missing, and her family says military investigators are not providing details into the investigation.

CrimeOnline spoke with Guillen’s mother, Gloria Guillen, who said that her daughter confided in her before she disappeared. Guillen apparently didn’t feel safe at Fort Hood, in part due to a sergeant who Guillen said had been sexually harassing her.

“[Guillen] said it was stalking and verbal harassment. He would look at her some type of way that would make any woman feel uncomfortable,” Gloria Guillen, who speaks Spanish, said through her daughter, Mayra Guillen, who translated on her behalf.

Guillen told her mother that the unnamed sergeant would also follow her when she went jogging, something she did routinely to stay active. Gloria pushed for the sergeant’s name and wanted to report the incident but held off when Guillen promised her she would take care of it. A few weeks later, Guillen disappeared.