Video: Violent thugs beat and rob soldier in Tampa
May 16th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
Tampa police are searching for clues in the beating of a 24-year-old soldier assigned to MacDill Air Force Base, WTSP News reports. The vicious attack, caught by a nearby surveillance camera, involved four young men punching, kicking and stomping the soldier.
At the prompting of WTSP, a local law firm is offering $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The soldier, Sgt. Johnny Aparicio, has since been discharged from the hospital.
Top Army general: I’m a victim of online impostors [UPDATE]
May 2nd, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, took to Facebook today to warn folks that he’s being impersonated online, most likely for profit. Army Times has reported on this many times. One of the most common iterations of this scam is when a scammer poses as a soldier, using pictures and details lifted from social media, to trick lonely-hearted women out of their money. Scammers have impersonated average Joes and top officials in the past, and it’s no surprise the Army’s most senior official is on the list.
“There are numerous instances of impersonation fraud on the internet. Often these consist of criminal elements impersonating military personnel for financial gain. I myself have had individuals attempt to impersonate me online in order to prey on the goodwill of individuals. My online presence consists ONLY of this facebook page, my twitter account (@GenRayOdieno), my blog on Army Live, and my Pinterest page (Ray Odierno). If anyone is being contacted through any other type of account, such as Skype, it is most certainly an imposter. Below is the link to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which you can use as a resource. Army Strong!”
I just want to take note of two things: Gen. Odierno has a Pinterest account, and the person who posts for him on Facebook posted his Twitter and Pinterest handles erroneously. Dude, you are so getting a demotion. Or maybe, it’s a head fake to the scammers. Very tricky, general.
Gen. Odierno has since posted the following:
“Nice spot by Joe Gould at the Army Times- my proper twitter account is: GenRayOdierno. The one in the post above is a typo. Army Strong!”
[via Facebook]
Gold Star wife learns of husband’s death through Facebook [UPDATE]
April 13th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
The wife of a Fort Carson, Colo., staff sergeant killed in Afghanistan said she learned of his death when a soldier from his unit posted on her Facebook page that there was an emergency.
“I was told via Facebook,” said Ariell Taylor-Brown told a local NBC affiliate. “It was a girl in his platoon. She wrote to me and told me to call her immediately.”
The move short circuited the military’s solemn and sacrosanct casualty notification process and broke a staunchly defended taboo.
Taylor-Brown called her, and the soldier told her of the death. Taylor-Brown, who has two children and is pregnant with the couple’s third was at home alone with the kids.
“She told me over the phone, right in front of my kids and I completely had a meltdown. She wasn’t supposed to but I guess she took it on her own power to do it,” she said.
Hours later, two soldiers arrived at her home in Mobile, Ala., but she knew about it already. Protocol dictates the Army is the first to notify the family through messengers who come to the house.
Taylor-Brown said she did not fault the soldier at first.
“When she first told me I appreciated it because I wanted to know, but after it was all said and done, it was a horrible way,” Taylor-Brown said. “She didn’t even give me a chance. I could have been driving, anything. I could have harmed myself.”
Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Brown, 26, of Columbus, died April 3, in Kunar province from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb attack. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
Brown was in his third deployment. His first was from Aug. 2004 to July 2005 in Iraq, and the second was from June 2009 to May 2010 to Afghanistan.
He was awarded, posthumously, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Brown arrived in Afghanistan just one week before he was killed. The couple had hours earlier been talking on Skype, as they did every day, his wife said.
“I wasn’t expecting this. He was there a week,” she said. “I just hope they bring them home because I don’t want anybody to have to through losing their husband and their kids losing their dad like this.”
UPDATE: Army Times wants to know what you think. If one of your loved ones was a servicemember killed in action, would you want to learn the news through the casualty notification process, or from one of his or her close friends? If it is the latter, do you care if the contact was initiated through Facebook or other social media?
Thank you, in advance, for providing your thoughts.
Updating your status? State-sponsored cyber spies want to know it too, researchers say
April 10th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
Your Facebook profile is a “treasure-trove” for state-sponsored hackers looking to gather intelligence about U.S. troop locations and organizational hierarchies, according to the cybersecurity firm Imperva.
A new report from the California-based firm says hackers can analyze connections between “friended” business partners and colleagues, to map out the hierarchy of different organization, reports Nextgov.
“The organizational structure can be used for corporate espionage, foreign-government and even military intelligence,” a draft reportedly states.
Rob Rachwald, Imperva’s security strategy director said individuals often post status updates that unwittingly reveal their geographic locations.
“Geolocation data is all together more valuable when cross-referencing it with the organizational structure,” he told Nextgov. “This can be very useful, say, to gain military intel on the location of the adversary’s military units. In fact, last year an [Israel Defense Forces] operation was cancelled following a soldier’s status update of the operation’s time and location,” the report states.
A Facebook spokesman said in response that the company has many technical systems in place to prevent “scraping,” or mining the site’s data, and to restrict Web search services from crawling through non-public information:
“We designed Facebook to provide a safer and more trusted online environment by offering users industry leading tools to control access to their information so they can choose what they share and with whom they share it. We encourage people exercise caution when connecting with others unknown to them online or otherwise.”
The Army’s Online and Social Media Division’s handbook for soldiers includes a list of safety measures. It also advises commanders to ensure designated social media managers monitor their unit’s official presence carefully for sensitive information, Army Times has previously reported.
“America’s enemies scour blogs, forums, chat rooms and personal websites to piece together information that can harm the United States and its Soldiers,” the handbook warns. “Be cautious when accepting friend requests and interacting with people online.”
A section for Army-sanctioned family readiness groups advises leaders to steer clear of posting specific unit information and gossip. As an example, it suggests using vague language such as their soldier is, “‘operating in southern Afghanistan’ as opposed to ‘operating in the village of Hajano Kali in Arghandab district in southern Afghanistan.’”
[via Nextgov]
Former top doc: Did anti-malaria drug trigger massacre?
April 5th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
The soldier accused in the murder of 17 Afghan villagers may have exhibited psychotic behavior consistent with the anti-malarial drug Lariam, a former top Army psychiatrist says.
Elspeth Ritchie, a former top Army psychiatrist, speculated the otherwise affable Staff. Sgt. Robert Bales suffered a psychotic episode, and she questioned whether he was on Mefloquine, also called Lariam.
Ritchie, in Time magazine’s Battleland blog, also asked what other drugs he could have been on. ”I have no indications that he was on illicit drugs. But these are always factors to consider. If he were, that could explain his behavior, which has puzzled so many of us.”
Lariam has severe psychiatric side effects, the Huffington Post reports. Problems include psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations. The drug has been implicated in numerous suicides and homicides, including deaths in the U.S. military. For years the military has used the weekly pill to help prevent malaria among deployed troops.
In 2009, the Army announced it was dropping Larium as its primary anti-malarial in favor of doxycycline, a generic antibiotic. In the past, the military have used mefloquine, in spite of the risks, because troops have to take it only once a week, while doxycycline must be taken daily. And in some areas, the malaria parasite has become resistant to doxycycline.
Bales’ attorney John Henry Browne told the PBS NewsHour he was interested in learning what medications his client was taking at the time of the shootings.
“We have to order his medical records, and they haven’t given them to us yet,” he said. “He was taking medications, but we don’t know whether it was aspirin, heart medicines. We don’t know what it was.”
The HuffPo report said the Defense Department had ordered an emergency review of the military’s use of Lariam. However, a Pentagon spokesman said this review was ordered months earlier and had “absolutely no connection to the ongoing case or investigation into the actions for which Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been charged.”
Tim Kennedy Rangers up Katy Perry in ‘Part of Me’ spoof
April 5th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
Katy Perry got so mad at her boyfriend she joined the Marines–and if that premise alone wasn’t hilarious enough for you, MMA star and special operator Tim Kennedy and the gang at rangerup.com offer this playful send-up of her controversial ‘Part of Me’ video.
It’s got everything to tickle your fancy: Ace bandages, bubble baths and bearded men in ACUs.
Hero vet stops robbery with MMA choke hold
March 30th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
He never knew what hit him.
A 38-year-old who attempted to rob a Grand Rapids party goods store was grabbed with lightning speed and floored by a heroic Iraq vet who happened to be the in shop, a local Fox affiliate reports.
Zach Thome, a mixed martial arts-trained former soldier, put gunman Brandon Slanger, 38, in a rear naked choke hold and held him until police arrived.
“I look at the cashier, I kind of know him, I come in there every day. I whispered to him, I mouthed to him, ‘Are you getting robbed right now?’ He said, ‘Yeah,’ like really scared,” Thome told the local reporter.
The robbery attempt began with a brief scuffle between the clerk and Slanger, leaving with he would-be robber standing at the counter, demanding money.
“He (the suspect) said, ‘give me the money or I’m going to shoot you. I have a gun in my pocket. I’m going to shoot you, give me the money,”‘ said Sunny Singh, the store’s owner, translating for the clerk who the suspect threatened.
That’s when Thome lunged at Slanger and subdued him. The pair can be seen in surveillance video with Thome on the floor behind Slanger, his legs wrapped around Slanger’s waist and a forearm at Slanger’s neck.
Slanger has since been charged with assault with intent to commit an armed robbery, and being an habitual offender.
“It’s kind of my hometown. I live right next to the place, you know, I’m in there everyday. I think if it was the other way around, if I worked there and the guy at the register was there, he would have done the same thing,” said Thome.
[via Fox 17 Grand Rapids]
Uncle Gene Simmons wants You… to be a roadie for Kiss
March 28th, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
One lucky soldier may get to go from the U.S. Army to the Kiss Army.
The rock band Kiss is looking for a roadie and they want to hire a veteran, according to an announcement on the website kissonline.
The vet who gets picked will be part of the team that assembles the KISS stage set, helps run effects during the show and takes down the set afterwards.
The gig involves traveling with the band from July 14 through Sept. 25 as they tour with Motley Crue.
Applicants do not need to be trained carpenters, but will work long hours, the announcement says.
Kiss, a financial supporter of the Wounded Warriors Foundation, made the offer in partnership with the Today Show and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes campaign.
Email hiringourheroes@uschamber.com to apply.
Music video charts new dad’s journey to war and home again
March 22nd, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
Pvt. 1st Class Randy Hirneisen, a tanker with U.S. Army Europe’s 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, is featured in the video for Black Stone Cherry‘s song “In My Blood”. The video follows Hirneisen’s deployment to Afghanistan, redeployment to Baumholder, Germany and finally to his homecoming in Georgia where he meets his new born son for the first time.
As Hirneisen — shown looking sullen for most of the video — breaks into a smile at the homecoming, see if you don’t get chills.
The C-130, the C-27J and The Godfather 2
March 21st, 2012 | Outside the wire | Posted by Joe Gould
via godfather.wikia.com
As the following was happening on Capitol Hill today, I noticed several airmen sitting in the back of the hearing room …
Sen. Thad Cochran:
Let me ask you a question about the C-27 Joint Cargo Aircraft program.
There is indication in our briefing paper here that the Air Force is suggesting that even though the C-27 was developed to provide a capability or unique capability to support Army needs, that that could have been managed by the use of C-130 aircraft.
I don’t know whether this is a consensus or what your reaction to it is, but is there a difference of opinion between the Army and the Air Force on the C-27 and C-130? We don’t need to overdo things and buy things we don’t need in this time of fiscal constraint and pressure on the budget, so I was just curious what your reaction to that would be.
Gen. Raymond Odierno:
We — the Army has a stated requirement for intra- theater lift which we need in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’ve discussed this over time. The Army has the C-23 Sherpa program which, frankly, is getting old and, frankly, will no longer be capable of doing the mission we need it to do in the future. However, so we’ve defined this requirement.
The Air Force has come back and said, “We can meet all of your intra-theater lift requirements with the C-130.” So we have worked with them to develop concepts that will put C-130s in direct support of Army units in order to meet these requirements.
So I — I would just answer your question by saying we identified the requirement for intra-theater lift. C-27 was one solution. The Air Force has come back and said “we can solve this problem using the C-130.” So we are working with them to come up with the procedures in order for us to solve this problem using the C-130.
… and I couldn’t help but think of that scene in Godfather II when they bring Frankie Pentageli‘s brother Vincenzo from Italy into the hearing room.
“Oh … the Army was interested in the C-27J, but that was a long time ago, that’s all.”