A Soldier shares his thoughts about Russia & Ukraine. My son just found this on Facebook & showed me

[Ghost in the Machine]

You can see an "Airborne" patch on his uniform, but his name tag and face are hidden. Sorry if it's a dupe, I haven't been on for a couple of days....

Seems like *some* soldiers are waking up... tired of being pawns/cannon fodder for the Military Industrial Complex.

Peace,

Ghost

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. He is risking a career for a war that is not happening

If we go to another European conflict, it will not be over Ukraine, it will be over Poland or Rumania, Article V, and that IS our business.

[pinboy3niner]

2. The patch is the insignia of the 101st Airborne Division

[Squinch]

3. Band of Brothers!

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Exactly.

That may or may not mean he's been through jump school.

Not that I think that fact matters. I fully agree with his sentiments, regardless of whether he's foolish enough to exit a perfectly good airplane while it is in flight.

In the 1st Cav, we used to say only 2 things fall out of the sky: Birdshit & fools.

[elehhhhna]

6. we won't go. we won't war make with white people. bad "optics".

[AnalystInParadise]

17. Do the Serbians know about these optics?

n/t

[pinboy3niner]

7. I was a leg in the 101st in Vietnam

The division had gone airmobile like the Cav, so jump qualification was no longer required. Recently, though, my old battalion (2/501 Infantry) was reactivated--as a parachute bn. of the 82nd Airborne Div.

Today the 101st is Air Assault, though the Airborne tab remains part of the division logo.

[Jackpine Radical]

15. I guess I once knew that--about the 101st going Airmobile, I mean--

but I don't spend much time ruminating about the "good old days." I think the conversion of the 101st happened about I DEROSed in July '68, though, didn't it?

[pinboy3niner]

21. You could be right about the date

It would have been around that time frame. I believe one of the brigades was first sent to Vietnam in '67 and the other followed later.

I joined the division in-country in '69--never even saw Ft. Campbell until a reunion a couple of decades later.

[JJChambers]

5. He will be found out within a day (nt)

[Ghost in the Machine]

10. Thanks for the clarification, pinboy3niner... aren't they based out of Ft. Campbell, Ky? n/t

[pinboy3niner]

13. Yes, that's where they're based. nt

[Sissyk]

27. Yes, they are based there.

Also, did you see the news this week about the deactivation of 1 or 2 squads(?). I don't know enough about the military to discuss what this means, but I saw it on the local news early this week.

I thought they said it had to do with cuts to the military after our soldiers all return from Afghanistan and that it had been years and years since part of the 101st had been deactivated.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Okay?

I mean, who of importance is actively pressing war with Russia right now? Other than some wishy-washy statements from John McCain, and how far can he take us really?

It's not like we're in late 2002-early 2003 here. As Nadin said, what exactly is the urgency here?

[Ghost in the Machine]

9. "As Nadin said, what exactly is the urgency here?"

I don't recall mentioning any urgency, personally. If I did, please feel free to point it out. All I did was shared a photo that conveyed the thoughts of an active Soldier, and I happen to agree with the sentiment conveyed. No more wars! Anywhere! In the immortal words of John Lennon... "Give Peace A Chance"!

Peace,

Ghost

[Tommy_Carcetti]

26. I mean, it's a nice sentiment and all...

....Can't say that I necessarily disagree, but.....

If this guy is going to put his military career on the line on a statement of principle, wouldn't you agree that it should be over a situation that is more than just hypothetical, at most?

It just strikes me as odd.

[Jenoch]

11. I have not heard a word from anyone in the U.S. government

who has a say so saying we will put troops on the ground in Ukraine.

[pampango]

12. Hopefully, there are Russian soldiers with similar signs. That would be helpful, also. n/t

[Shankapotomus]

14. I wonder if he served in Iraq under Junior. Nt

[Jackpine Radical]

16. Probably not--I think I see a couple of E-4 insignias.

unless he was a bad boy & got himself busted at some point, I would imagine he would be at least an E-6 if he had been in long enough to have served under Bush.

[AnalystInParadise]

18. As an E-4?

Just about impossible.

[Mr_Rogers]

20. With that attitude?

Maybe

[AnalystInParadise]

22. As an E-4 with the current points promotion cycle

and training time/deployment time/home station time/ reset time. He has most likely one deployment. He may have a second one coming up soon. But even an E-1 can make E-4 in less than two years, that is VERY common. If he came in with a little rank due to college, trade school, etc it would most likely be even less time.

The average soldier (for all MOS's) spends about 22-24 weeks combined in Basic training and AIT. If they were PCSed to their first duty station and deployed within 90 days and served a typical one year deployment then he would be in the military 20-22 months total when he got back from his first duty station. Since stateside dwell time is now 24 months minimum between deployments (has been that way since the end of 2010)It means that even with a PCS move the average soldier only has one deployment in a standard 4 year contract. If he is in 4 years and has not made E-5 that says far, far more about the individual than it does anything else. For my previous MOS (before I retired) if you were not making E-5 within three years you were a serious shitbag. Our promotion points are low and our promotion "put through" rate is high. We are an anomaly, but most MOS's if it has taken more than 4 years, you have a problem.

[Lurks Often]

23. Presuming of course it is actually an active duty American soldier n/t

[NuclearDem]

24. Yeah, didn't we see something like this back with Syria?

And it ended up having some connection to the SEA?

[whistler162]

28. And when Obama was first elected, iirc.

[Lurks Often]

29. I have vague memories of a similar Facebook post

only it was a different branch of service, maybe about Syria or Libya.