IVAW: Enough Already With "I was told...", "I didn't actually see..."

So, having the #$%^ flu, I am not my normal pleasant self. Well, actually I am never really a pleasant self, but whatever I am or have been - I’m now much worse.

A good friend just apprised me of a post at HuffPo by a person who claims to be IVAW, and IVAW’s membership page does show a member by that name.

Before I let rip on this one, a quote from Mackubin T. Owens, Vietnam Vet:

“I always agreed with the observation of Harry Summers, a well-known military commentator who served as an infantryman in Korean and Vietnam, that the story teller’s distance from the battle zone was directly proportional to the gruesomeness of most atrocity stories."

This comes from SGTHogg posting at HuffPo:

“When my unit came home (I was not sent with them because mechanics were deployed as infantry, and as a female I was barred) one of the older guys told me a story. He said they would arrest Iraqi's in night raids and turn them in only to be later asked to go get them again after they were released, as they were now wanted. He told me (E-6, in his 40's, pro-war) that they would just shoot the guys when that happened. He said this as if it were normal and ok.”

Anyone else getting sick of “I actually didn’t witness...” (Aidan Delgado) or “I was told...” (Michael Blake) or “I saw enough to figure out...” (Camilo Mejia) from members of IVAW!!!!!!

There is a lot that doesn’t pass the smell test in that one short paragraph. An E-6 in his forties is what, an exceptional over achiever or a version of my invisible friend? Night raids are very risky and involved operations requiring intense specialized training. Anyone else doubt that mechanics from an engineering battalion are sent on those? The military is all about task specific training.

Sgt. Hogg was indeed a mechanic, from her HuffPo profile:

“Served as a mechanic in the Army National Guard from 2000-2005 and was activated for 9/11. Left the military due to my disagreement over the Iraq war, the treatment of gays and lesbians in the military as well as other minorities. I am now in Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.IVAW.org) and working to end the war in Iraq as well as call out sexism, homophobia and racism where I see it.”

Pardon me, but if Sgt. Hogg was so opposed to sexism, wouldn’t she have insisted on being deployed to Iraq?????? Sorry, it's the fever!

I’ve sent an inquiry to the 42nd ID PAO asking about whether female unit members like mechanics in support groups like the engineers were ruled out of deployment because those support units were to be used as combat infantry in things like night raids!

Back to SgtHogg at HuffPo:

“You know that if you were to report something like that there is a chance the guys involved would get very mad at you, and we all know anger and guns don't mix. Not to mention, you don't betray your fellow soldiers or marines, right?”

Nice touch, that! Speak the “truth”, your fellow soldiers with guns might do something to you, but the Sgt goes on to say:

“IVAW isn't trying to make war criminals out of service members, they are trying to expose what is normalized.”

Mensa is not calling Sgt. Hogg! Back to her:

“So if we as a service we normalize things that are wrong and place having your buddies back over what may be right (when not in war) as more important, do you think it is impossible to have things go wrong?”

Except the Sgt. supposedly heard this from one person and therefore concludes it is normal!

Real high bar for credulity, that, unless one is predisposed!

Here is former Sgt. Hogg's member page at IVAW, in which she says of the Army:

"...there is no real honor in an organization whose history is so tragic to those who have served in its ranks and to multitudes of those that have been murdered, been raped and pillaged in its tracks."

Well, to paraphrase Bogie, at least the Army will always have Paris!

And maybe some other places:

UPDATE:

Over at the Helen Benedict site, some words from Sgt. Hogg who is now calling out sexism in the military:

"Jennifer Hogg, 25, who was a sergeant in the Army's National Guard, said her company treated her well because she had a commander who wouldn't permit the mistreatment of women. But another National Guard soldier, Demond Mullins, 25, who served with the infantry in Iraq for a year, from 2004 to '05, told me that although there were no problems in his unit he heard from his commanders that there were rapes in other units in his camp. 'One time a woman was taking a shower late, and guys went and held the door closed so she couldn't get out, while one guy went in to rape her,' he said."

So the one calling out sexism was treated well, and the guy who didn't see problems in his unit heard about bad things in others, right down to the "how to" details! Oh, as though I had to tell you: Desmond Mullins is also IVAW!

Surprised?