‘Non-deployable’ soldiers becoming problematic for US Army

Medical problems are keeping too many US Army soldiers from deployment and, as the overall force shrinks, the numbers are beginning to affect unit manning levels, a top service official said.

Not Ready for a Real War

While on his way to the African Land Forces Summit in Tanzania last weekend, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, complained that “Today, a Major in the Army knows nothing but fighting terrorists and guerrillas, because he came into the Army after 9/11. But as we get into the higher-end threats, our skills have atrophied over 15 years.” According to the New York Times, the Army’s top commander expressed concern over whether his forces could fight a large land war where an “established adversary” (meaning a rival national power) could bring sophisticated air defenses, tanks, infantry, naval power and even cyber-weapons into battle. He apparently left out the threat of enemy air power, though both Russia and China are capable of challenging the U.S. and its allies in that arena as well.

New ‘Praetorian Guard’ Seals Putin’s Hold on Power

Vladimir Putin now has his own private army to enforce policies he is borrowing from both Russia’s Soviet and czarist history.

The Praetorian Guard of the Roman Emperor became infamous as one of the ancient world’s most brutal military forces. Equal parts secret service, riot police and imperial bodyguard, this corps d’elite became a permanent force only after Caesar Augustus made himself sole master of the Roman world.

These handpicked soldiers were loyal first and foremost to the emperor. After the fall of Rome, the legacy of this imperial force inspired would-be emperors from Napoleon Bonaparte to Czar Peter the Great to create private armies.

A modern-day imperial strongman is resurrecting this idea once again!

Putin fears revolt in Russia ahead of elections, creates national guard under own command

Putin is not the first Russian president to propose the creation of a national guard, Stratfor wrote Tuesday in an article titled “A Guard for Putin’s Security.”

In 1995, the newspaper Izvestia published leaked memos between former Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s aides, claiming that Yeltsin had already drawn up the orders for the new force, envisioned to serve as his personal army in case of domestic uprisings – the national guard.

Source: Baltimore mayor ordered police to stand down

Despite a firm denial by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a senior law enforcement source charges that she gave an order for police to stand down as riots broke out Monday night, raising more questions about whether some of the violence and looting could have been prevented.

The source, who is involved in the enforcement efforts, confirmed to Fox News there was a direct order from the mayor to her police chief Monday night, effectively tying the hands of officers as they were pelted with rocks and bottles.

Asked directly if the mayor was the one who gave that order, the source said: “You are God damn right it was.”

Exclusive–MO Lt. Gov: Officials Must Explain ‘Under Oath’ Why National Guard Stood By as Ferguson Burned

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, is demanding that the state’s Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon offer a public explanation as to why he told the National Guard which he had previously mobilized to stand down in Ferguson, Missouri, on Monday night as the city burned in riots.

On Fox News on Tuesday morning, Kinder told anchor Martha MacCallum that Nixon kept the National Guard away as Ferguson burned—and questioned whether he did so in coordination with top officials from President Barack Obama’s administration. At a Tuesday press conference in response to a question from Breitbart News’ Kerry Picket, Nixon said that Kinder’s questions were “false and absurd” and that “politics has nothing to do with what anyone up here is doing.”

Kinder, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News early on Tuesday evening after the Nixon presser, said that Nixon owes the people of Missouri and specifically Ferguson an explanation as to why he held back the National Guard from stopping the looting, rioting, and burning of businesses and terrorizing of people.

Special report: America’s perpetual state of emergency

WASHINGTON — The United States is in a perpetual state of national emergency.

Thirty separate emergencies, in fact.

An emergency declared by President Jimmy Carter on the 10th day of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979 remains in effect almost 35 years later.

A post-9/11 state of national emergency declared by President George W. Bush — and renewed six times by President Obama — forms the legal basis for much of the war on terror.

Tuesday, President Obama informed Congress he was extending another Bush-era emergency for another year, saying “widespread violence and atrocities” in the Democratic Republic of Congo “pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States.”

Those emergencies, declared by the president by proclamation or executive order, give the president extraordinary powers — to seize property, call up the National Guard and hire and fire military officers at will.

“What the National Emergencies Act does is like a toggle switch, and when the president flips it, he gets new powers. It’s like a magic wand. and there are very few constraints about how he turns it on,” said Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor at Princeton University.

Army to force out 550 majors; some in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — About 550 Army majors, including some serving in Afghanistan, will soon be told they have to leave the service by next spring as part of a budget-driven downsizing of the service.

Gen. John Campbell, the vice chief of the Army, acknowledged Friday that telling troops in a war zone that they’re out of a job is a difficult task. But he said some of the soldiers could join the National Guard or the Army Reserve.

Army goes to war with National Guard, seizes Apache attack helicopters

The National Guard is following a direct order — but it’s not happy with it. All of the Guard’s AH-64 Apache helicopters are scheduled to go to the active Army, and there’s nothing its top brass can do about it.

“None of us like what we’re having to do,” National Guard Chief Gen. Frank Grass told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, the military website Defense One reported. “My big concern right now is figuring out how I’m going to move, and how many states I’m going to have an impact on, and what’s the cost of facilities and to retrain pilots. I’ve got to tackle that because the decision’s been made.”

Army will cut almost 4,000 captains, majors

The pre-selected taking out of those with some of the most experience in their field should clearly leave a mark if one wanted to weaken the military from within.

Almost 19,000 captains and majors will be screened by separation and early retirement boards this spring as part of the ongoing drawdown of the active-duty Army.

…

“The Army’s drawdown plan is a balanced approach while maintaining readiness and reducing turbulence to the officer corps,” said David Martino, director of the Officer Personnel Management Directorate at Human Resources Command. “We know the Officer Separation Board and Enhanced Selective Early Retirement Board will separate fully qualified officers who have rendered quality service to the nation. We’ll execute [the boards] with precision, care and compassion.”