Unanswered Questions about a CSM's Sudden Death-Top MI NCO for AG

[TacticalPeek]

DefenseWatch "The Voice of the Grunt"

05-21-2004



Unanswered Questions about a CSM's Sudden Death

By J. David Galland

On Jan. 2, 2004, Command Sgt. Maj. James Stacy "Rock" Adams, the senior enlisted leader of the scandal-scarred 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion, was found dead in his apartment in Wiesbaden, Germany. He was only 43 years of age, and he had been the battalion CSM since September 2003.


snip

Suddenly, just after New Year's Day, 2004, CSM Adams fell quiet. The official casualty report did not include the cause of his death. I lost a friend and a former colleague. Many questions remain unanswered in my mind, in particular whether knowledge of the ongoing Army investigation into his unit may have contributed in any way to his passing

But it is not time to forget Adams just yet. This past week, one of his junior NCOs displayed both mettle and courage as "Rock" would have wanted him to. Sgt. Samuel Provance, who was at Abu Ghraib prison, spoke out. Provance has revealed what he saw and heard at Abu Ghraib, first to ABC news (see "Definitely a Cover-Up," ABCNews.com, May 18, 2004), and then to other reporters (see "Sergeant Says Intelligence Directed Abuse," The Washington Post, May 20, 2004).

snip

While interviewing Provance, Fay actually threatened the young sergeant if he spoke out. Fay asserted to Provance that he could punish him for not speaking out earlier about the abuses at the prison earlier. It looks like this courageous sergeant has called Fay?s bluff.

Essentially, Fay is investigating his friends and professional colleagues, including senior Iraqi commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Sanchez? top MI subordinate, Maj. Gen. General Barbara Fast, 205th MI Brigade commander Col. Thomas M. Pappas, and certainly others at the top. The results of his high-level investigation, punctuated by his threats to Sgt. Provance and probably others, should make very interesting reading. A major general threatening a sergeant is a censurable offense not far removed from a physical threat. In the real world of major general to sergeant relationships, this was indeed a threat!

This is the kind of rot we have dressed in snappy uniforms and attached stars to. Now the question remains, how many others fall squarely into the mold?

more
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch%2edb&command=viewone&op=t&id=493&rnd=48.44398164863573

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. We have this rot every time the army

remains at peace for some years

But we will need to clean the house

[tabasco]

4. Please explain.

- How does peacetime cause "rot" in the Army? Sounds like a right-wing talking point I've heard circulating. "We have to go to war every few years to keep our military efficient." I know you're not a winger but I disagree with this theory.
- IMO, the rot came from the top after GW Bush was appointed and the rot moved down. It doesn't take that long for a malevolent command climate to affect operations all the way down to the privates.
- We had several large-scale operations under eight years of Clinton, but no torture scandals and coverups.
- The military was just fine until GW Bush and his cabal disposed of the best leaders and appointed their yes-men.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. I thought Rummie already cleaned house

and got rid of all the honest soldiers?

[burrowowl]

2. Thanks for the link

Very interesting site!

[TacticalPeek]

3. You're welcome. It's Hackworth-approved!

Col. David Hackworth: A Fish Stinks from the Head First


Written by SFTT.org/DfenseWatch


Wednesday May 19, 2004

Hack's Target

By David H. Hackworth

When I was a buck private in Italy, five-star Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower visited my outfit. Of course, there was no television in those days, so there was no globally televised Bob Hope-type spectacle like last week's Rumsfeld-Myers show-of-all-vaudeville-shows at Abu Ghraib prison. Instead, Ike walked through the ranks and talked to every soldier in my reconnaissance company.

He stopped in front of me - 15 years old and quaking - and asked: "How do you like the chow?"

"It stinks, Sir."

"Why?" he asked.

"All we get is Spam."

"Spam? Why?" he roared to his entourage.

A shaky voice replied that the depots were filled with Spam from World War II, and the supply people were getting rid of it.

"Stop it," he snapped. "Feed these soldiers proper rations."

"That take care of it, son?" he asked me.

"Yes sir," I gulped.

I still remember the concern in his voice. And I learned then that if a soldier got to the boss and bitched, the odds were the boss would fix it. I also learned a valuable leadership lesson: A commander must get down on the ground with his troops in order to find out what's really going on.

Had Army leadership been following Ike's example, our nation would not be shamed, and our critical military mission in Iraq wouldn't be jeopardized.

more
http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=3596

[TacticalPeek]

5. Kick.

:kick:

[Hubert Flottz]

7. That the Gen would threaten the Sgt does not surprise me!

CYA is the golden rule in the Army!

[cmayer]

8. Kick,

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. add another one to "the bush bodycount"...grrrrrrrrrrrrrr