24 Sept 03

From a friend in WI:

"Wisconsin's CCW bill will likely go off and quietly die this year. The repeated problem here (as in other states) has been the dismal political ineptitude of the legislation's proponents. Were it not for that, we would probably have a law in effect now.

Example: Last week, we had a high-profile, self-defense shooting here in Madison. It involved a local woman who deftly shot and killed two home invaders. Immediately seizing the opportunity, a showy local proponent of licensed concealed carry got on the evening news and, describing the woman as a saint, applauded her and declared that this is exactly why a CCW law is needed. The commentator (of course, no friend of gun owners) reminded him that the woman didn't require any kind of permit to defend herself in her own home. In addition, he pointed out that this "saintly" woman is actually a local crack dealer, and the inept decedents were two of her (apparently) unhappy customers. He made the interviewee look like a complete idiot, which he, unfortunately, is. Bungled interviews such as this surely put a bad face on our CCW campaign. The media, in fact, seeks out dithering buffoons like this whenever they want to discredit an issue they don't like.

Our local DA has decided not to charge the woman, despite the boisterous ranting of the decedents' relatives, who can't believe this woman had the audacity to actually defend herself with gunfire against the abortive attack of these two (thankfully departed) thugs. One presumes these same relatives would be standing solidly behind their criminal kin at the murder trials, had the home invasion not been successfully repelled."

Comment: As Second Amendment advocates, we must always be well spoken and have our facts straight. Some of us make poor spokesmen, no matter sincere we are. Those of us in that category need to leave television interviews to others.

As Lincoln once put it, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt!"

/John

24 Sept 03

From a friend on active duty:

"Based on the Iraq experience, the DAMPL (Department of the Army Master Priority List) is out. Here are the highlights: There are no more CAT 1 (really ready) or CAT 2 (sort of ready) units. Only units that are deployable immediately and those that are not. One of the reasons the 507th Maint Co got lost and ambushed in Iraq is because it got shoved in to the action without much of its equipment. It never should have been deployed at all.

On short notice, we are going to have to be able to deploy something other than just light infantry. Heavy backup is going to have to be (for the first time) instantly deployable too.

The division HQ, as we have known it, is history. In its place we need a task-oriented, modular command and control unit, instantly restructureable, instantly mobile. An Army leader who balks, drags his feet, or complains about working in a joint/coalition environment will be fired. Political autonomy is history.

For once, we need to be honest about the capabilities of our helicopters, and stop flying them over heavily defended positions without support and without any real chance of recovering downed aircraft and crews.

Unit cohesion is critical. We need to stop the practice of individual replacement, and keep units together. When a unit is no longer combat effective, it needs to have its mission adjusted accordingly or be cycled to the rear.

We're getting out of the installation management business. Property management companies take better care of on-post housing and facilities than any housing office ever did."

Comment: To its credit, the Army is trying, under the prodding of Donald Rumsfield, to correct and upgrade, admitting (some) mistakes and trying to find real solutions. I'm not sure I agree with all of the forgoing, but progress is being made. It can't come too soon!

/John