Changes coming by the numbers

In an attempt to be all-inclusive, the U.S. Army issued a directive on grooming and appearance regulations that now allows observant Sikh men, conservative Muslim women and orthodox Muslim men to wear religious head coverings, and in the case of the latter, to wear mock-up suicide vests. 

Thus, the only change in custom is that the vests must be non-explosive but can resemble the more formal attire.

The new policy was announced on Tuesday and it allows Sikh soldiers to maintain their beards and female soldiers to wear light mustaches and their hair in dreadlocks.

"The Army has reviewed its policies to ensure soldiers can serve in a manner consistent with their faith so that we can recruit from the broadest pool of America's best," Army Secretary Eric Fanning said in a politically correct statement. 

"Over the last year, the Army conducted rigorous evaluation and validation of how commonly requested accommodations would impact force effectiveness," Fanning whimpered. "Our goal has always been to ensure soldier readiness and safety while providing reasonable accommodations for these established and recognized faith practices."

Soldiers will still have to submit their requests for brigade-level approval, but with the softening of Army standards and the new wave of political correctness, approvals are just about guaranteed.

There will be additional changes in the way the U.S. Army treats its troops. Men who believe they are women are permitted to use the female facilities. Women who believe they are men, can use the men's room. Those soldiers who aren't certain of their gender identity may pee on the floor, but in the other situation will use the facilities they were not born with, in the event that they make up their minds as to what they are at a later date.

Soldiers will be permitted to make as many gender identity changes as they deem necessary--there is no limit to their mental illness requirements.

The largest numbers of requests regarding appearance comes from Muslim women soldiers who want to wear the hijab (headscarf). The Army is currently working on developing a hijab made of flexible Kevlar to protect their heads on the battlefield. It will come in desert camouflage and green.

The same is true for Sikhs who wear a turban known as a patka. They will be permitted to wear it as well as their uncut beard and hair as Sikhs are supposed to never cut their har. Kevlar is being tested for the patka as well.







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An administration of idiots

Are we being led by an administration of idiots? Amateurs? Do they care about our national security or are they so clueless that they don't even realize how dangerous their blase attitudes are about how they secure their government emails?

Defense Secretary Ash Carter did a "Hillary Clinton" during the first thrree months as SecDef this year. That is, he used his personal email account for his "professional" correspondence (scare quotes for me indicate my skepticism), the Pentagon admitted on Wednesday.

The New York Times first reported this story saying that Carter had been confronted about his email habits by Denis McDonough, the White House Chief of Staff, three months after he took office as defense secretary (aka "Government Secrets Disseminater to Russia, China, ISIS and Fox News"). 

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook released a statement saying that Carter believes his use of personal email for work-related business was a mistake, but did not mention whether it was a violation of Pentagon email policies.

If it was not a violation of Pentagon email policies, that would mean the Pentagon email policies were either written by a) one of our enemy countries or entities; b) Hillary Clinton; or c) an Alzheimer patient.

Cook said Carter stopped using his personal email, but he didn't say when. That is very reassuring to us.

Carter admitted that he occasionally used his personal iPhone to send messages to his staff, but added that no classified information was in those messages [or at least marked classified].

The Times reported that our SecDef was assigned a government email account when he first became Obama's SecDef "yes man" in February, but he didn't think he needed to use a secure account when a personal account could almost do the same job. Even his own staff thought he would or could be hacked.

In 2012 Pentagon policy barred all employees, not just the upper echelon, from conducting government business on their personal email, and even President Obama barred federal employees from sending or receiving emails from personal accounts unless the messages were either copied or forwarded into government accounts within 20 days. Did Carter follow that directive? 

You make the call.

Even while Hillary was under FBI investigation about her alleged mishandling of classified information, using a private account for all her emails as secretary of state, evidently Carter didn't think it also pertained to him. He continued this practice no less than two months after the "Scandal Queen's" practices were made public.

The Times reported that the emails it received under FOIA were between Carter and Eric Fanning, his then chief of staff and now acting secretary of the Army.

Personally, I don't care a fig what the emails said or who the emails involved, the fact that our secretary of defense, like our incompetent secretary of state, cannot follow a simple procedure is an indication of an administration that is out of control with its arrogance and belief that the law and common sense don't apply to them.

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Homosexual man nominated by "First Gay President" to lead the Army

Our "first gay president" is nominating Eric Fanning to be the new Secretary of the Army. Fanning, who is openly gay, would be the first homosexual leader of a military service. This should go over well with Army Rangers and Green Berets.

Obama is doing his level best to eliminate barriers in the military based on sexuality or gender. He may even be considering pedophiles and bestiality practitioners as even more barriers are lifted by Mr. Obama, but for now, homosexuals can run the military and can serve openly. This, of course, came on the heels of the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy where homosexuals could serve if they stayed in the closet.

Recently, two women earned their Army Ranger tabs this summer, a historical first for the Army. This comes at a time when the Marines announced that they would allow women to fight in open armored units but sought to keep infantry and artillery jobs closed to them, which goes against the trend followed by the other three branches of the military.

Fanning, 47, served as Defense Secretary Ash Carter's chief of staff and acting secretary of the Air Force. He became the Army's undersecretary in July. He also served as Deputy Director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism--you can easily see how that has worked out for us.

Obama said in a statement that Fanning brings years of experience and leadership to the role of Secretary of the Army, and he suspects that uniforms and drills will be more spruced up, and the decor in the barracks will "knock your socks off." Just kidding.

The Senate must confirm his nomination and based upon how Obama has the GOP on a short leash, there should be no problem. Perhaps there ought not need to be any problems--Fanning may be fine.

Twitter was abuzz with the news. "Proud of my friend Eric Fanning who will make history, again! Obama nominates 1st gay service secretary to lead Army," USAID official Clay Doherty tweeted.

I think it's great to have a gay man leading the U.S. Army. I don't have a problem with that. 

What I have a problem with is the need for us to incessantly announce the sexuality of people whose sexuality is not the statistical norm. So he's gay, so what? Being gay, straight, lesbian, transgender, or 'into' critters is personal and should not be a badge of honor.

I guess in Obama's eyes, gay people, who admit being gay, are heroes, not the people, straight or otherwise, who actually put their life on the line.


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