Tag Archives: transgenders

Current Events

Berger’s Corps

36 Comments

I never thought I would ever write such a letter to my Commandant of the Marine Corps. As I was writing my book, my editor reminded me several times to what President Reagan said: “Republicans (read Marines) should never speak ill of a fellow republican (read Marine). However, I could not help myself because during my nearly 36 years wearing the Marine uniform I learned that while we like to believe that all Marines are honorable, just, and forthright in their decision making processes, I found they were not! Therefore, I had to call a spade a spade; the principles I learned from my mentors would not allow me to lie. Some were nothing more than career-minded cocker spaniel Marines who looked out for no one but themselves. In fact, the Corps seems to attract those of that ilk and we also tend to breed them.

I remember when selected for colonel, a friend for whom I had worked and respected a great deal warned me that I was about to enter into the political side of the Marine Corps. He was right. The cocker spaniels who are discovered early normally do not rise above field grade, but every now and then one kisses enough ass, has the right tickets punched, collects a godfather or two along the way gets a star. Once anointed with that star, it then becomes critical that he sense the political wind and set his sails accordingly. And that Mr. Berger is a description of you.

I served under ten commandants. Most were okay, some I idolized, and one I detested for what he did to us enlisted Marines by taking away our collar emblems. Of the eight who served after my retirement, there are only two for whom I have any respect. I have often wondered why that is, why have we not had a Chapman, Wilson, or Barrow? I suspect that having achieved that “political rank” I became more aware of  the real reason for some of their decisions and actions. Then you appeared on the scene.

When first nominated and I read your Bio, I was impressed thinking we now had one who may steer the right course regardless of the political wind. Was I ever mistaken. You have done nothing but set those sails to follow the liberal agenda regardless of where it takes our Corps. All of your actions since appointment seem destined to change the Corps from an organization respected throughout the world for its nearly 250 years of honorable service to our country to “Berger’s Corps,” whatever the hell that happens to be. We retirees are still trying to figure that out. Your new force structure, organization, and employment concepts have every former commandant and most of the retired generals scratching their heads. But enough has been said about those asinine decisions; therefore, I shall let the generals have their say.

My concern is, as it always was when I wore the uniform, with the Marines themselves and what you are doing to them—the Pvts, PFCs, LCpls, and NCOs. In other words the doers in the Corps, the ones who bleed and die in the politicians’ wars. Have you any idea what goes through the minds of the privates? There is a chapter in my book entitled “The Private’s World,’ you should read it, you might learn something. Did you are any of your minions at HQ think of the average Pvt when you came out with that sick pride month statement or were you simply setting those sails to ride the political wind. I think the latter. What about the average young boy who enlisted in the Corps, the one who was raised by our once normal moral standards. What does he think of you pride month celebration? Or don’t you care?

I have friends, retired peers, albeit younger then me who have children and grandchildren in the Corps. Have you any idea what they are saying? Or do you just not give a damn, this is “Berger’s Corps”?

Of late you MR general came out and tried to attack the retirees’ pride reminding us of the meaning of Semper Fidelis and telling us “our Corps” needed our help in the recruiting arena. HA! Sorry, but it isn’t “our Corps” anymore; it’s Berger’s Corps. And I don’t want anything to do with that Corps as it is unrecognizable to me and many of my peers. I have already talked two young boys out of joining Berger’s Corps. My friends and peers say their hearing from their children and grandchildren that they are now counting the days not for reenlistment as was planned, but discharge. I don’t know how big the recruiting service is today, but you best look at increasing it drastically. But then Rand says that 70% of the 18-25 year old’s are unqualified mentally or physically from joining the military. Maybe the LGBQTs will answer the call and fill Bergers Corps .Won’t that help unit cohesion?

Speaking of  Semper Fidelis. Who is actually being unfaithful? Is it us retirees or you and your minions? What about all those traditions that brought the Corps to where it was before you started destroying it all? Yes, there probably were LGBQTs in the Corps throughout its history. I’ll buy that, so what? Does that mean we need to flaunt their existence. Do you know what else is celebrated this month? How about PTSD Awareness Month, or doesn’t that matter to you since they aren’t serving today? You have done nothing but added more gender confusion to the Corps’s many concerns.

You, Mr. Berger, will go down in the annals of Marine Corps history as the worse commandant ever, even worse that that fool that took my collar emblems away when I was a LCpl.

Your post has nothing to do with Marine readiness and everything to do with undermining unit cohesion — the esprit de corps that is the USMC’s foundational fabric. If mass eye-rolls among the Marine rank and file had a sound, the thunder from outside the Beltway — those not kissing Biden’s ass — would be deafening.

Fact is that this crap impacts readiness because the insult to morale impacts reenlistment decisions. Marines are ashamed to be associated with this degradation. One Marine Sgt spoke for many others: “This shit is one more reason why I am not reenlisting — nobody wants this shit and the result is that our best Marines, enlisted and young officers, are leaving. Lots of them are leaving.”

With all that said, I will leave you to your sick, demented, history destroying ways and pray that someone will come along and shut you up. I’d sign this with the normal closing of Semper Fidelis, but you have no idea what that means and you certainly do not deserve it

 

Jim Bathurst

Col, USMC (Ret)

Originally posted 2022-06-04 14:21:17.

Current Events

We Are Screwed!

14 Comments

First it was gays and lesbians,, then it was the transgenders, and now the nonbinary. Had to stop and think about that one . I mean I knew , or at least I thought I knew, what binary meant, but just in case I went to old Man Webster. He says the noun binary means: ” a system of two stars that revolve around each other under their mutual gravitation.” Got that? 

Pentagon Quietly Looking into How Nonbinary Troops Could Serve Openly

18 Jan 2022
Military.com | By Rebecca Kheel

The Defense Department has quietly begun looking into how it can allow troops whose gender identity is nonbinary to serve openly in the military, three advocates familiar with the situation told Military.com.

The Pentagon has asked the Institute for Defense Analyses, or IDA, which operates federally funded research centers, to study the issue, said the advocates, one of whom requested anonymity to disclose a sensitive topic.

Someone who is nonbinary identifies as neither male nor female, often using “they” and “them” as their pronouns and marking their gender as “X” on forms that have that option.

It is unclear exactly how long the research has been going on, but SPARTA, an advocacy group for transgender troops, put researchers in touch with several nonbinary service members this month.

SPARTA President Bree Fram, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, likened the effort to the study the Pentagon asked Rand Corp. to conduct in 2015 before lifting the ban on transgender people serving in the military. Bet this LtCol was fun to work for.

“Speaking with non-binary troops and defense officials to understand what regulation changes may be necessary is a great first step,” Fram said in a statement to Military.com. “We are hopeful this will allow non-binary individuals to serve authentically and realize their full potential in the military.” Why should they, do we need them? 

Jennifer Dane, executive director of LGBTQ military advocacy group Modern Military Association of America, said members of her organization have also spoken with IDA and believes initial conversations about open service by nonbinary troops began last year.

Asked for comment, IDA referred Military.com to the Pentagon, which declined to comment “at this time as we do not provide information that may or may not be part of the Department’s research efforts.”

There is no explicit ban on nonbinary service members, but there is also no official recognition of their existence or guidance about how they should adhere to gendered policies, such as what uniform to wear or where to shower.

Advocates say policies allowing transgender troops to serve openly have made it somewhat easier for nonbinary service members, but add they still face hurdles because there is no official recognition of nonbinary gender identities.

If policies are changed to allow nonbinary troops to serve openly, it would be the latest move to make the military more inclusive for LGBTQ people. Again, why? Do we need them or do they need us to forward their agenda?

It’s been just over a decade since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the law that banned open service by gay, lesbian and bisexual troops.

In 2016, the Obama administration lifted a ban on transgender troops. Former President Donald Trump reinstated the ban in 2019, but President Joe Biden lifted it last year shortly after taking office.

Dane said she is hopeful the research on nonbinary troops will lead to policy changes, but expressed concern that “there’s going to be a lot of hurdles, more so than transgender, I think, because there’s no binary on it.”

But as more people in younger generations identify as nonbinary, including in official documentation such as passports and driver’s licenses, Dane said an open service policy will be crucial to recruitment and retention. A 2021 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found about 1.2 million U.S. adults identify as nonbinary 76% of whom are under age 29. Don’t you just love it when they spout figures like this? How did they determine these numbers? Certainly one has to trust them, I mean look from where they came. Ha!

“To get the talent, obviously, you’ve got to kind of get with the times,” Dane said. What talent are we talking about. You mean men and women to find, close with, and destroy the enemy?

Dane also pointed to a recent Air Force decision to allow email signatures to include someone’s pronouns, including they and them, as “opening the door to further conversation” about nonbinary troops. “Aim High”

The Biden administration has taken steps to be inclusive to nonbinary people at agencies besides the Pentagon.

The State Department last year issued a passport with an “X” gender marker for the first time.

The Department of Veterans Affairs also recently announced that transgender and nonbinary veterans can identify as such in their official department medical records.

While stressing that he could not speak to the military’s current research efforts, Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, which researches issues of gender and sexuality in the military, said he believes there are three categories of policies the military might have to consider as it looks into open nonbinary service.

The first are policies that likely won’t need to change at all, such as nondiscrimination policies that already ban discrimination based on gender identity.

The second are policies that could be made gender neutral, such as some uniform standards – changes Belkin said would benefit not just nonbinary troops but also female troops.

The third category are policies the military can’t or won’t make gender neutral, such as where to shower. In those cases, Belkin said, commanders could consult with the individual nonbinary service member about which gender’s standards would be more appropriate to follow. Oh, that’s nice, As a Nonbinary I get to choose with whom I shower.

“The opponents to nonbinary service, just like they did for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and just like they did for Obama’s transgender policy, they’re going to insist that implementation is so complicated and so hard, in fact it’s so complicated that it can’t be done. That’s complete bull—-,” Belkin said. “Implementation is not complicated. Period, full stop. The military could easily pull this off tomorrow. It would not be a big deal.”

Aaron Belkin himself. Of course it would not be a big deal says Belkin. He knows this as a fact because he has experience in what military service? NONE!

 

Finally, you MUST watch this short video as it deals with the reality of the question, what is the DOD doing. Preparing the militaries for war or developing a national social club for the minority groups? Surely that will help with recruitments and retention. Watch and you decide. I believe we’re screwed.

Yes, I believe we are certainly screwed folks.

Originally posted 2022-01-19 10:40:04.

Current Events, Recent Posts

My Open Letter to Commandant Berger

221 Comments

Okay gang, here it is, read, enjoy or not, and PLEASE give me your comments — I am not thin skinned. What a sad commentary to have to write, but I had to!

Dear Commandant Berger,

Sir, I pen this open letter to you, not as any form of disrespect, but only one of disagreement—albeit a rather loud and harsh disagreement. I have followed with keen interest much of what you have been carrying out as our 38th Commandant. I have hesitated writing to you since I know there is nothing I or any of my fellow retirees can do to change your mind. We have been watching and reading with much dismay your actions aimed in only one direction—you know, and we know where that is.

Firstly, you are surely wondering who this seemingly brash retiree is writing me? Well succinctly, I am a retired Marine just short of thirty-six years—ten enlisted and twenty-six as an officer. Having received a combat commission as a Sgt during my first tour in Vietnam, I eventually retired October 1993, so I was into my 23rd year when you were commissioned in 1981. I also note from you biography we are fellow Marylanders, you in Woodbine, me in Inverness.

In 1982 I was—as a senior Major—assigned as CO of the Corp’s then largest recruiting station—Chicago. I went in as a “fireman,” my predecessor had been fired. Chicago had ninety-two canvassing recruiters; the only station close to us was Los Angeles with seventy-eight. These two stations required a LtCol as CO because they needed an Assistant Operations Officer to help manage a pool that numbered into the thousands at any given time. If my memory serves me correctly, we annually shipped around 4,000 recruits to MCRD, San Diego.

I knew nothing about recruiting when assigned to this command. However, I was blessed to have a Deputy Director, an ADPP, and two Recruiter Instructors who were recruiting SME’s in every respect—they taught this Grunt Major how to spell recruiting.

With the help of many outstanding Marines, both canvassing recruiters and “A” billets, Chicago slowly rose from a failing station to be the top station for nineteen consecutive months. Because of the mentoring I had by so many experts, including the LtCol running MRRE at HQ, I believe by the time I was reassigned three years later, I was among the select few of the most knowledgeable 8402 officers in the Corps. It was the toughest assignment I ever had during my career—including combat. I learned much about the heritage, values, and the respect Americans had for the word Marine—and about myself as a leader.

So, why am I telling you all this? It isn’t meant to be boastful for I am certain any dedicated Marine would have been able to do the same with such expert mentoring and hardworking recruiters. No, I tell you because recruiting is in my veins. I bleed recruiting. I understand it better than most—including your general running the recruiting command. I think about it often. I have visited RS’s, spoke at poolee functions, and I started and ran a National Young Marine unit in IL for years. So your new “plan”—so cagily named “Semper Fi”—where your recruiting general has asked all veterans to be “faithful” to their Corps and assist in the recruiting effort—which I know is not doing well—really “woke” me up. Pun intended. The sheer audacity of such a request is unbelievable. Do you really think the retired community is going to take up that challenge? If you do, you sir have lost touch with your retired Marines.

I communicate regularly with 100’s of Marines, former, active, and especially retired—the entire non-active Marine force are in agreement that you are destroying “our” Corps. Sadly, I can longer speak with recruiters or poolees without lying, and I will not do that.

I say this with a heavy heart, but I have recently talked to one of our super stars from the Young Marine unit out of joining the Corps. That’s all he wanted to do when he graduated; he wanted to be like me. I even gave him some of my uniforms to wear in the unit. My conscience and respect for him would not allow him to do that—he was too good for that. So he took my advice and went on to college in hopes that by the time he graduates in four years you will not have totally destroyed our Corps. Maybe, just maybe, someone will come along and right all your wrongs.

Your actions are—as you state—”in the interest of bringing our Corps into the modern society” are contrary to everything our Corps has stood for since its birth. Your push for sexual preferences for women, unisex uniforms, women in the combat arms, allowing transgenders, relaxed female grooming standards and acceptance of despicable tattoos, fraternization at all levels, the vapid attacks on the very culture of the Corps, and its alleged racist/sexist heritage is unacceptable to those who have worn the EGA. I have not mentioned the draconian reduction or elimination of combat units and equipment, the destruction of the MAGTF, or your latest thoughts on recruiting cyber experts at elevated ranks without having to attend boot camp or OCS

Enlisting high tech people without having to go through boot camp or OCS? Having never been enlisted, you cannot “feel” the rage your Marines will experience. Those two “initiations” have always been the key ingredient that banded us together and made us a family forever i.e., earning that sacred EGA for life. I spent tours as a DI at Parris Island, and a Sgt Instructor at OCS—I know the intensity with which Marines hold that honor. I took part in instilling it.

Eighteen months of maternity leave. Sounds great—the female gender love it. May I asked which Marine, male or female, will do her job while she is home with her newborn for one and half years? Let’s be honest and ask of what value is this Woman Marine to the Corps? Joins for three years and spends one half of her enlistment on maternity leave. Considering recruit training, MCT, and then MOS training, you may have her for a year or even less. Bad move general.

Allowing a Sikh Major to wear his religious head garb and go unshaven? (Update: Doing more research after a call from a dear brother, it appears this dirt bag is a selected captain, not  a major. I can’t find where I got it that he was a selected major? I highlighted and expanded the pic of him and sure enough he is wearing 1st Lt bars. Sorry.) Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what other Marines are thinking when they see him? No, I’m sure you don’t, and you obviously don’t care. Your changes are all directed towards pleasing every minority and the hell with everyone else. Is that what you mean about bringing the Corps into the “modern society?” General, that is your modern society, not mine or that of the retired community.

You are watering down our Corps, so we look like everyone else. We never looked like everyone else—we never wanted to look like everyone else. Remember the ad, If everyone could be a Marine, it wouldn’t be the Marines. America doesn’t need a second Army, America has always loved her Marine Corps, but that is slowly changing—some look at us as victims now. It’s amazing the questions I get from knowledgeable people when I am out and about wearing my Marine ball cap. You think America isn’t watching? Guess again general.

And what’s this about your comments concerning the Army National Guard recruiting our discharged Marines? Of course they do, why not? They are trained, disciplined, and understand honor, integrity, and commitment. Plus the ANG are not going woke like the Armed Forces. Another of my super stars in the Young Marine unit, a female, could not get into the PLC program at her college, so she went ROTC and is having the time of her life, getting rapid promotions employing the leadership principles she learned in the Young Marines. Remember them general, there are eleven of them in case you never learned them or forgot them.

Moreover, you complain about the other services recruiting our prior service Marines. Again, why not? But you say some of them are disappointed and are asking to come back into the fold. Did any of your recruiting gurus dig into what it was they were dissatisfied with the branch they chose? Probably not. My bet is they missed what the Corps had to offer such as pride, honor, being part of something great, and of course wearing the hard earned EGA. I will watch this action closely for I believe if you allow them a “streamlined” method of coming back, they will find themselves again disappointed by all the changes you have made to the Corps they remembered and loved.

Are we soon to become obsolete and folded into the Army? I mean they have artillery, so we didn’t need them. Is that your plan—we think so. Look above you general—what is the service of your bosses? I am sure they applaud your actions as it falls right in with their desires.

Finally, recruiting older Marines, not 18–20 year old’s as they haven’t achieved full maturity yet —so you say. Tell that to those of us who served in WW I or II, Korea, Vietnam, or the Sandbox. I know and I would “think” your generals would know what type of young man seeks out the Corps. The one we have always—to use the new PC term—vetted and made him a Marine for life. Now you don’t want him. You want the misanthropes, the gender confused, the lost souls, the weak minded, and those we know are poorly suited to the battlefield.

In closing, it appears your changes are destroying everything the United States Marine Corps has stood for in 246 years—the very fabric of the Corps. What happened to “We don’t promise you a rose garden,” or “The Few, The Proud, The Marines?” Now it appears it’s, “Come Join Our diverse organization, all are welcome.”

As I said at the beginning, I mean no disrespect to you general. I know I speak for the vast majority of the retired community when I disagree with all you are doing to “our” Corps. It seems you just don’t know how to say “No” to anything unless it is to diminish our traditional values. How dare you call our heritage racist and sexist. Tell that to four of the last six Sergeants Major of the Marine Corps who were black. My mantra was always, “Mission, Men, Myself.” Having read your Bio and watched intensely what you have done and are doing to our Marine Corps, I must place you in the category of a term I learned long ago as a PFC—Cocker Spaniel Marine! If you are unfamiliar with that term perhaps you need to read my book, We’ll All Die as Marines.”

Semper Fi General (if you can be),
Jim Bathurst
Col, USMC (Ret)
1958–1993

Postscript. You will probably never see this letter, but maybe, just maybe, someone will read it and find a way to get it on your desk. I hope so!

Originally posted 2021-12-05 16:31:52.

Current Events

The Woke of July

1 Comment

Well here we are the first day of a new month, a summer month, when folks should be planning vacations to the beaches, the lakes, the mountains, or many of the places this once great nation has  to offer. And what’s even more significant about this month is it includes our nation’s birthday. Personally, I am concerned about the future of its birthday. In fact, this just might be the last time any of us get to celebrate the Republic of the “United” States of America. How sad is that, but then I will have celebrated the founding of our nation 80 times this July 4th. How many my children, grandchildren and  great grandchildren  will be able to celebrate I haven’t a clue. Why? The answer is simple, but if you do not know why, you are reason.

By Greg Maresca

As the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia concluded on September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government do we have? “A Republic,” he replied, “if you can keep it.”

Stripped to its essence as the nation attempts to celebrate its 245th birthday, Franklin’s challenge needs examination and any newspaper will do.

The nation’s president says: “America is back”— back to the 1970s with increased inflationary spending, high gas and food prices and compounded global threats. Not to be outdone, he also claims the Constitution does not protect our right to own “assault weapons” because “if you wanted, or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.”

Sen. Dick Durbin’s remarks on the Equality Act was equally as telling. “Catholic” Durbin ran counter to the church’s disapproval to the legislation as it discriminates against Christians and the unborn. Durbin quantified, “I do believe that people who want to blatantly discriminate and use religion as their weapon have gone too far. We have to have limits on what they can do. I might remind us in history that the Ku Klux Klan was not burning question marks.”

Equating those who adhere to biblical morality with the KKK, does not bode well for any reasoned debate about religious freedoms in the future and those arguments are forthcoming.

Welcome to July 4, 2021, where courage is a boy declaring himself a girl and athletically competing against them. It is a place where the Internal Revenue Service denied a Christian nonprofit tax-exempt status because the Bible’s “teachings are typically affiliated with the Republican Party.” This disqualifies them from exemption under Section 501(c)(3), according to the Washington Examiner.

Don’t dare joke about Newark, New Jersey that erected a 700-pound bronze statue of George Floyd or utter “all lives matter.” Do not expect to keep your job at Space Force if you criticize the evils of Marxism, or post on Facebook how the COVID vaccine made you sick.

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib’s pronouncement that he is gay made national headlines. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke directly to the wokeism cult saying, “The NFL family is proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today.” Evidently, the highest leftist virtue is discovering one’s personal truth, and expecting approval for doing so.

A transgender BMX bike rider who qualified as an alternate for the U.S. at the Tokyo summer Olympics said her goal was to win an Olympic medal “so I can burn a U.S. flag on the podium.” In a spirited nation, she would be immediately nixed from the team. Yet, certain folks will lionize her.

Some police departments have stood by as looting and burning goes unabated and where statues of Columbus and Lincoln are toppled, while the law is applied asymmetrically on the basis of ideology and race.

Technology tycoons exploit the cult of woke to attack those who have dissenting views including a former president. In Biden’s America, the Federal Reserve is now telling employees to avoid “biased terms like Founding Fathers.”

Governors and mayors have used a virus to deny constitutional freedoms of assembly, religion and speech. Society can be juxtaposed to the condition of that Miami condominium before its collapse. Cracks in our moral and spiritual foundations threaten our future.

Undoubtedly, you can add to this list – daily.

We have abandoned the concepts of a republic for a democracy.

The Constitution’s framers were adamantly against tyranny of the majority. The Founders framed a representative republic that Franklin’s famous quote underscored with designated checks-and-balances.

Over two centuries ago, English historian Alexander Tytler believed, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.” The Wall Street Journal reports nearly half the nation is now on the federal dole.

If you believe America is humanity’s noblest construct of nation and spirit, the moment to stand up and be counted is upon us.

Doing nothing will only accelerate the deep-seated conversion from a constitutional republic into a one-party socialist government.

What better time to step-up than the nation’s birthday?

I will attend church on Sunday with my bride, come home, and revel in the fact we are still a Republic that is 245 years old. It may be the last time I will be able to do that, and not because I will have passed, but my Republic did. Sad!

Originally posted 2021-07-01 09:35:13.

Recent Posts

Vietnam War – Unbiased

7 Comments

As I watched this power point presentation it conjured up all sorts of memories, none were good memories, but memories I am proud of. I’ve not finished watching Burns and Novick’s biased series, which I sure many Americans now firmly believe was an honest depiction of that war. Meanwhile those who had boots on the ground have a  completely different view. I probably won’t finish watching the series now that I have read so many reviews by people I trust because their boots were alongside mine – on the ground. But as I clicked on each slide, I was vividly reminded how we lived, how we fought, and how we bled. The I think of  the current state of affairs that Obama and his cronies like Mabus and “Ash and Trash” Carter have left our military. As you watch this, think about women in the infantry, transgenders serving in these hell holes, think diversity supposedly making our military more efficient.  And tell me, show me, introduce me to an 18-year-old woman who could live through that and if she did would not be scarred for life. What fools we are!

Vietnam_War SLIDE SHOW

Originally posted 2017-10-18 10:20:22.