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Columnist and former soldier
David H. Hackworth is the author of The Price
of Honor, and contributes weekly commentary
to DefenseWatch. For more information, visit Colonel
Hackworth's homepage or the DefenseWatch
Website. Sign up for the free weekly Defending
America column at his Website,
or send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831.
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[Have an opinion about a Hackworth column? Sound
off in the Hackworth Discussion Board.]
May 3, 2005: Another Open Letter to LTG Sattler - "But frankly, general, some of your flunkies are blowing smoke -- and lots of it -- up your cammie trousers."
April 26, 2005: A Watershed Event - "[Operation Eagle Claw] was one of the U.S. military's worst self-inflicted public humiliations."
April 19, 2005: A Tale of Three Sergeants - "Then there's convicted felon Sgt. Shawn Kenny who will be up for promotion to master sergeant next month."
April 12, 2005: Soldiers Shouldn't Be Guinea Pigs - "Let's hope that a gutsy senator moves out sharply to stop this abominable undercover medical experiment."
April 5, 2005: Ahoy to the Navy's Top Brass - "Five Seabees died in vain ... apparently because of wrong decisions, petty bureaucracy and appalling leadership."
March 29, 2005: Out of Iraq - "I have never seen anything like this -- trucks and Humvees that looked like they had just come through a shredder."
March 22, 2005: Open Letter to a Marine General - "The Marines who were promised a stripe were met instead with two-bit chicanery."
March 15, 2005: Another Shameful Navy Cover-Up - "Why was this Navy construction unit assigned road-security missions for which it wasn't trained or equipped?"
March 8, 2005: An Air Force That's Flaming Out - "It's about time the top brass checked their 'six' and realized they're an institution that's going down in flames."
March 1, 2005: A Battle-Rattled Army - "If 17 out of every 100 returning vets are mentally down, our Army is in serious trouble."
February 22, 2005: Virtual Soldiers Won't Cut It - "Our gallant military is gutted and in no way has the end-strength to jump into fresh fights in festering places."
February 15, 2005: We've Danced This Dance Before - "As with Vietnam, the Iraqi tar pit was oh-so-easy to sink into, but appears to be just as tough to exit."
February 8, 2005: Signs and Soldiers - "Here in Hawaii, many locals aren't afraid to question the wisdom of what this administration is doing in Iraq."
February 3, 2005: Fry the Big Fish Too - "In a democracy, the truth must come out, and all the guilty - no matter what their rank or power - must be held accountable."
January 25, 2005: Nickle-and-Diming the Troops - "The combat pay of the average grunt in Afghanistan and Iraq is only $7.50 a day or a measly $225 a month."
January 19, 2005: We Can Still Win - "Fighting insurgents is relatively simple. You don't need to be the top guy in the class to win the game."
January 11, 2005: National Security vs. Social Security - "While Congress studies long-range problems like Social Security, the force that defends America is going down the drain."
January 5, 2005: It Is Up to You And Me - "I'm gearing up in '05 to go up against the Pentagon's out-of-control campaign to keep us all conned."
December 28, 2004: A Guerilla War, Not a Picnic - "Why were those soldiers packed in a mess hall on a guerrilla battlefield?"
December 14, 2004: Band of Khaki Liars - "As with Tillman, the truth always comes out. So what's with all the ultimately ineffectual obfuscation?"
December 7, 2004: Uncle Sam Wants Your Kids - Now! - "High-school kids are actually running away from recruiters like they were George Romero's living dead."
December 1, 2004: Calling Gen. Abizaid - "[DVs] are jet-setting at taxpayer expense and screwing over the troops they lead."
November 23, 2004: Who Signed? - "There was evidence that Rumsfeld's signature [on the KIA letter] was in fact machine-produced."
November 18, 2004: Fallujah: Saved for Democracy? - "Now, the tough part begins: how to convince the Sunni survivors to join President Bush's 'march to freedom.'"
October 26, 2004: Coalition of the Chilling Out? - "Overall, the coalition appears to be a costly joke - but American taxpayers, who are stuck with a big chunk of the tab, should be losing their sense of humor by now."
October 19, 2004: Memo for the President-Elect - "We're not winning the even-more-consequential worldwide battle against the Islamic jihadists. All because our forces are trying to do too much with too little the wrong way."
October 12, 2004: Muzzling Soldiers Is Nothing New - "The troops are being warned: Shut up; and if you don't button it, you'll be drummed out of the service."
October 4, 2004: Uncle Sam Will Soon Want Your Kids - "The draft - which will include both boys and girls this time around - is a no-brainer in '05 and '06."
September
28, 2004: While America Slept - "Like Vietnam, the cover-ups
and distortions will continue until the press and the people wake up."
September
24, 2004: Other Priorities - "Even after more than 83 incidents
were reported during a six-month period in Iraq
and Kuwait, the 24-hour rape hotline in Kuwait was still being answered
by a machine."
September
14, 2004: Balad's Gen. Jimmie - "Bad outfits - military or civilian
- are all about bad leadership: the top being out of touch with the bottom,
not setting the example or leading from the front."
August
30, 2004: Fort Cheat - "There's plenty of evidence suggesting
that some slackers might have failed the course on purpose to avoid duty
in Iraq"
August
16, 2004: Once More a Nation Divided - "Once again, that tragic
war divides America - and this time around it's vet pitted against vet."
August
9, 2004: Attacking in the Wrong Direction - "As we rediscovered
in Vietnam and Somalia, insurgent warfare is a fight against a different
animal, frequently a hit-and-run, stateless opponent without easily identified
major targets to zero out."
August
2, 2004: One of the Biggest Heists in History - "Don't our soldiers
deserve a better deal? Or is our government reduced to trying to make
up the AWOL bucks on our soldiers' backs?"
July
29, 2004: The Boys from Company A - "Many of these fine citizen
soldiers are suffering needlessly because of poor leadership from platoon
to brigade."
July
19, 2004: The Fighter's Badge - "I can personally cite dozens
of perps and even complete units during Desert Storm who claimed the badge
when they didn't deserve it."
July
12, 2004: Lip Service Doesn't Stop the Dying - "That's what supporting
the troops is really all about - making sure American grunts get the right
stuff! Not mindlessly clicking our heels and saying 'Yes, my leader.'"
June
28, 2004: Sack 'Em and Rack 'Em - "The mighty sword that Rumsfeld
and Myers inherited four years ago - the finest military force in the
world - is now chipped and dulled."
June
16, 2004: The Death Wagons of Iraq - "The brass need to spend
less time in their luxurious lakefront palaces and get down on the ground
with the troops."
June
8, 2004: While America Sleeps - "We citizens must drop the denial,
apathy and foggy thinking that's gotten us into this mess, take charge
of our government – which has irresponsibly ignored this threat to our
national security for 21 years – and finally answer the wake-up call."
June
2, 2004: Consequence Day - "Clearly the decision to go to war
is far too important to be left to our shortsighted, agenda-driven politicians
and Pentagon eager beavers."
May
26, 2004: Voting With Their Feet - "I've been around long enough
to know that liars figure and soldiers know the truth. So I'll go with
the soldiers."
May
18, 2004: A Fish Stinks From The Head First - "A commander must
get down on the ground with his troops in order to find out what's really
going on."
May
11, 2004: Hanging Out the Troops - "The brass have spent months
covering up obscene behavior while placing the sole blame on Joe and Jill
Grunt."
May
4, 2004: Stupidity Causes Death - "There are few Pattons at the
top of today's military who know the fighting game and have the guts to
tell Perfumed Prince superiors that their poor decisions could get soldiers
killed."
April
27, 2004: Thin Skins Bleed Easily - "A classic example of leadership
negligence is our soldiers' current chariot, the Humvee."
April
20, 2004: Flunking the Combat Task - "Hopefully, Gen. Eaton will
look truth dead in the face and recognize that no amount of magic-wand-waving
will change an Iraqi mob into an instant effective army."
April
14, 2004: Not Iraq's Finest - "If we delude ourselves again as
we did with the South Vietnamese army and cut and run too soon, all our
sacrifices in Iraq will have been in vain."
April
6, 2004: No Excuse for Abuse - "Right from the get-go, the CASF
ran into an iron wall of regular Army bureaucratic red tape."
March
30, 2004: Maybe This Time We'll Get It Right - "With the upgraded
XM-8, our warriors will finally have a weapon that will do as good a job
punching holes in enemy soldiers in the 21st century as the M-1 and Browning
Automatic Rifles did in the 20th."
March
24, 2004: Ready, Fire, Aim - "The Pentagon's top brass always
focus on big-ticket toys like the irrelevant F-22 fighter, the crash-and-burn
Osprey helicopter, the redundant Joint Strike Fighter and the dubious
Stryker combat vehicle."
March
16, 2004: Batten Down the Mosquito Netting - "Now a new wave
of unexpected horror, leishmaniasis, is arriving at WRAMC and its dedicated
docs are burning the midnight oil to find a treatment."
March
10, 2004: In Search of a Ulysses - "There are just too many Perfumed
Princes sporting stars who are politicians, lobbyists and salesmen rather
than soldiers."
March
2, 2004: Generals, Talk to Your Sergeants - "Seasoned combat
vets in Iraq are spoon-feeding the newbies from green units as they pour
in for their one-year stint in the 'sandbox.'"
February
24, 2004: You Need Two Arms to Win - "We can only hope that key
presidential political advisers will stay away from the war-fighting biz
and stick to their political imperatives."
February
17, 2004: Nothing to Smile About - "Heavy dough's being wasted
on folks who won't initially qualify as fighting-fit when Uncle Sam comes
calling."
February
11, 2004: Calling Maj. Ritter - "We can count on Ritter to tell
us the straight skinny, just as he tried to during the fevered, frenzied
days of the dance to war."
February
3, 2004: Memo to the Army Chief of Staff - "Now that Vandergriff's
sounding the alarm that the Army personnel system is broken, Gen. Schoomaker,
perhaps it's payback time, your turn to listen up."
January
27, 2004: Choppers Down in Iraq - "We can do our part by demanding
that George Bush get on the red phone and tell his "new best friend" Vladimir
Putin to stop those Russian missiles from being hawked like Russian vodka."
January
23, 2004: More Body-Bag Bait? - "SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, reputedly
a hard-nosed efficiency expert, needs to determine whether Pentagon pork
to states such as Washington is worth putting fine kids in the middle
of a red-hot frying pan when they’re far from ready."
January
13, 2004: Politicians – Read This before Self-Destructing - "Veterans...have
vowed to hold our politicians’ feet to the fire this time around to make
sure they honor our nation's sacred obligation to the men and women whose
sacrifices have made our country the freest in the world. "
January
6, 2004: An Army Short of Ammo - "You'd think that our Congress
would have the good sense to read the coffee grains and demand that we
reopen other ammo plants to prepare for a long, dangerous and most critical
global war in which our very way of life is at stake. "
December
16, 2003: Gotcha! - "How the mighty have fallen. A dictator who
habitually claimed he was descended from the kings of Babylon and lived
accordingly in dozens of massive marble and gold palaces was captured
in primitive digs that even a New York bag lady would have deemed unsquatable."
December
9, 2003: My Santa Wish List - "So, Santa, please do whatever
you can to protect and inspire our kids in Iraq. They need all the help
they can get."
December
3, 2003: Iraq Isn't for Tourists - "Iraq isn’t a Disneyland Middle
East fun destination for high-ranking tourists looking to play paint ball.
As George Bush reminded us on Thanksgiving by the extremely cautious way
in which he went about his rightful duty, Iraq is presently one of the
most perilous places in the world."
November
19, 2003: Spinning Fumbles into Touchdowns - "Jessica Lynch’s
sounding off has exposed a progressively more aggressive MO designed to
put a winning face on a bad war."
November
12, 2003: Fire the Perfumed Princes Now - "The conventional generals
like Odierno should be replaced by mainly Special Forces leaders, both
from the active and retired ranks, who comprehend the war at hand. Leaders
who'd drop the silly charges against Col. West in a heartbeat so he could
get on with winning his piece of this ugly war."
November
3, 2003: We're Not Getting a Bang for Our Buck - "The war in
Iraq has showcased both the Army's strengths and its weaknesses -- and
it's clear that the Reserve falls into the latter category."
October
29, 2003: Try a Little Shoe Leather - "The medical holding facilities
at Ft. Stewart are overcrowded – not with wounded-in-action heroes but
with sick or malingering soldiers. Mainly reservists and Guard folks who
were called to active duty and found not fit to fight."
October
22, 2003: Have Vest, Will Loan - "Worried moms and pops are sending
vests to their kids in care packages that in other conflicts contained
cookies and Kool-Aid."
October
7, 2003: The Few, the Proud – and the Under-Rewarded - "The top
Marine brass need to have a hard look at what their personnel weenies
are doing in the awards department and give them a good shake-up."
September
30, 2003: Medalgate - "Abuses of the awards system are anything
new. The U.S. military’s awards program -- designed to recognize both
our combat heroes’ valor and the meritorious deeds by those hard-working
supporters who bring up the rear -- has never been exactly fair."
September
23, 2003: Reporting for Duty: Wesley Clark - "After spending
three hours interviewing the man for Maxim’s November issue, I’m impressed.
He is insightful, he has his act together, he understands what makes national
security tick."
September
16, 2003: Time for Straight Talk - "Recent polls reveal that
70 percent of Americans honestly believe that Saddam Hussein was behind
9/11 – a powerful testimony to Karl Rove and the neo-conservative propaganda
machine."
September
9, 2003: Déjà Vu All over Again - "Wise commanders know when
to attack, when to retreat and when to adjust their battle plans. They’re
in sync with the drumbeat of the battlefield the way a doctor is with
the pulse of his or her patient."
September
3, 2003: Respect Our Reserve Heroes, Too - "Citizen soldiers
have saved our country since the battle of Concord in 1775, when Minutemen
fired 'the shot heard around the world.' Today, such patriots are members
of the reserve components – the National Guard and Reserve elements of
all services – and our armed forces couldn’t defend America without them."
August
27, 2003: Using Private Lynch
August
19, 2003: America's Best
August
12, 2003: Fire the Losers before the Army Goes Down
August
6, 2003: Bad Call on Iraq
July 30,
2003: Bring Back ‘The Gunfighter’
July 22,
2003: Try a Little Decent Leadership
July 16,
2003: Holding in Afghanistan While Winning in Iraq
July 8,
2003: Bring What On?
July 2,
2003: Shoestring Logistics - The New American Way
June 25,
2003: The Whistleblower Act is a Sham
June 18,
2003: Loyalty to the Country Always
June 11,
2003: Pfc. G.I. Joe Sounds Off
June 3,
2003: Trained to Die
May 29,
2003: Rangers Caught in the PC Crossfire
May 21,
2003: Hackworth: Secrets Galore from Iraq
May 14,
2003: No Light In The Afghan Tunnel
May 7,
2003: Try a Little Lincoln-Style Leadership
April
30, 2003: Save the Apache, Lose the Gold Plating
April
22, 2003: That Bloody Road to Baghdad
April
16, 2003: Please, No More Made-in-the-USA Monsters
April
9, 2003: A Mean, Green Machine
April
2, 2003: Stuck in the Quicksand
March
26, 2003: Smart-Weapon Wars Still Scar the Old-Fashioned Way
March
19, 2003: The Draft as Deterrent
March
12, 2003: Give the 2ID Its Marching Orders
March
5, 2003: Pledge Allegiance to Our Troops
February
26, 2003: Hurry Up and Wait
February
19, 2003: An Ounce of Prevention
February
12, 2003: What's the Rush on Iraq?
February
5, 2003: Will Colin Powell Stand Tall?
January
29, 2003: Soldiers Beware
January
22, 2003: An 'Army of Many' Can't Hack It
January
15, 2003: Putting Out a Sea of Fire
January
8, 2003: Hackworth: Rumsfeld and The Liar's Club
January
1, 2003: Who Cares?
December
25, 2002: Bombs or Big Macs?
December
18, 2002: The Bigger Threat: Osama or Saddam?
December
11, 2002: More Sweat in Training, Less Blood in Battle
December
4, 2002: The Coming Desert Shootout
November
27, 2002: First Base First
November
20, 2002: During the Interval Between Sideshows
November
13, 2002: Do It Right Or Die
November
6, 2002: Cheerleaders, Put On Your Gas Masks
October
30, 2002: Protect Home Base First
October
23, 2002: Prioritize or Lose
October
16, 2002: Being in the Rear - No Longer a Day at the Beach
October
9, 2002: Urgent Memo to Congress
October
2, 2002: Let’s Talk It Out Before We Shoot
September
25, 2002: Will Congress Blink?
September
18, 2002: The Hidden Casualties of Gulf War I
September
11, 2002: Apathy and Pork=Another 9/11
September
4, 2002: Define the Iraqi Threat
August
28, 2002: America - Count Your Dead
August
21, 2002: Protect Homebase First
August
14, 2002: The Enemies from Within
August
7, 2002: A Waste of the Best and Bravest
July 31,
2002: Set the Record Straight
July 24,
2002: Our Stars Don't Shine Brightly on Today's Battlefields
July 17,
2002: The Safest Airport in the World
July 10,
2002: An Open Letter to Members of Congress
July 3,
2002: No Bad Units, Only Bad Leaders
June 26,
2002: Secure Our Ports From Terrorists
June 19,
2002: Let's Go MAD Against Terrorists
June 12,
2002: Support the FBI 'Grunts'
June 5,
2002: Learning from the Past
May 29,
2002: The Sum of My Biggest Fear
May 22,
2002: Where Do We Find Such Remarkable Men?
May 15,
2002: Rumsfeld Was Right to Cancel the Crusader
May 8,
2002: Real Welfare of Troops Is Keeping 'Em Alive
May 1,
2002: A Shot in Time Saves Millions
April
24, 2002: An Army of Three
April
17, 2002: Rumsfeld Saves the 'Queen of Battle'
April
10, 2002: Stand Tall or Lose it All
April
3, 2002: Got to Get Tougher in a Hurry
March
27, 2002: Poster-Boy Losers
March
20, 2002: When Will They Get it Right?
March
13, 2002: 9/11 Sitrep
March 6, 2002: Ban On Beer An Insult to Our Soldiers in Germany
February
27, 2002: 'Ghost Soldiers' and Lies Equals Bodybags
February
20, 2002: Will Osama bin Laden Bring Back the Draft?
February
13, 2002: Putting Black Hawk Down in Proper Context
February 6, 2002: Anti-Terror Campaign Is No License to Steal
January
30, 2002: Club Fed and Our Invisible Troops
January
23, 2002: Another Untold Story Of Not Looking After The Troops
January
16, 2002: Wanted - A Committee For Protection Of Grunts
January
7, 2002: Beware Of Afghanistan Mission Creep
For more information, visit Colonel
Hackworth's homepage or the DefenseWatch
Website. Sign up for the free weekly Defending America column at his
Website, or send
mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831.
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