‘But Guido joined the Marine Corps’
21 Dec 2007
Sgt. Gibby has a story on Marine General Peter Pace:
Pace Details Lessons He Learned From Young Marines
The reason the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visited Chaminade High School here was on the wall as he entered the building today: a simple plaque with the names of graduates killed in combat. Midway down the list of 55 Chaminade graduates killed in combat was the name Guido Farinaro, Class of 1967, killed in Vietnam in 1968.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace came to this Catholic school to honor Lance Corporal Farinaro, the first Marine to die following 2nd Lt. Peter Pace’s orders. The four-star general keeps a picture of the young lance corporal under the glass on his desk in the Pentagon to remind him of the sacrifices young servicemembers make.
Go read the rest at WTF Over.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Talked to a friend of mine over lunch who had been in combat in Iraq with his reserve unit. I had sent him a copy of the previous article. He said he thought the M4 was great, but all he had to compare it to was the M16A1 and A2. He was shocked by the numbers, although he said the M16A1s they trained with jammed constantly. He also mentioned that the AK-47s the terrorists were using jammed all the time too. I suppose the desert is a hostile environment for any gun, and the terrorists probably don’t get the top line stuff.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 am
To the point of this topic this time, it was probably one of the women or children of that village that shot his buddy. Call in the artillery you idiot. What ever happened to ‘kill them all and let God sort them out?’ I suppose that day one more pussy General was born. Now maybe he can retire and collect a quarter million a year salary from a defense contractor milking the US taxpayer for 20 years developing a precision guided that exfolliates the dead skin from our enemies faces in hopes the sudden fresh feel of the breeze will cause them to surrender. One of my friends who was in Vietnam tells this story about a unit that was pinned down in a battle and could not advance because one of the enemy troops was holding a gun to his own head and threatening to kill himself. Several of our guys had been shot by the troops backing up the suicide man. The US troops wouldn’t advance, but instead were trying to talk the guy into putting down the gun. My friend saw this fiasco and shot the guy holding the gun to his own head and they swept the village. Several of the US troops chewed him out for shooting the suicide guy. They kept telling him they could have saved him. To me, that story has come to symbolize that entire f’ed up war.
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I think it’s always a good idea for any leader to remember where they came from, and the potential consequences to others (admittedly greater in the military) of following their instructions/orders. On the other hand…….I’m vividly aware my old civil service agency didn’t get all the good employees. The military obviously got some too. I met some really great grunts, NCOs, and field grade officers last year in the Stan. I also met some I wouldn’t have let run an electric can opener, or have followed across the street (much less into battle). Dfens is correct about ’some’ of these retreads post military careers also. The head of my company’s Stan Ops was a retired Brigadier. By all accounts he’d had an examplary and decorated career. By the time I met him (as in several) he was 70+ and probably not exactly in his prime anymore. After watching this guy interact with other employees, there is no doubt in my mind the man was suffering from one or more significan mental conditions. I don’t say that lightly, and I would note I’ve had significant formal training in making lay assesments of mental conditions and referrals. Had this man been a subordinate of mine (in my old agency) I would have requested suspension without pay, referred him to employee services, srongly recommend to management he not be allowed to return pending a clean bill of mental health from a licensed practioner. I was not the only person who thought so. This assessment was nearly universal by my coworkers as well (all the former police and military). Why was our commander there…………former general with big connections in the US Gov, US Mil in the Stan, and could exert pull with our NATO allies. He was still a Bug though. His successor (another retired…………..you guessed it! General) seemed to have his act together, however upon arriving at our company HQs he was out meeting and greeting everyone (a good thing to do!). After soliciting opinons from a number of supervisors and managers, he summarily dismissed them for expressing opinions divergent from his own. Thanks for asking homes! Now, I’d be the first to admit there was certainly some deadwood and incompetents that needed to go down the road ASAP. But asking people for opinons; then canning them just because their opinion differed from yours doesn’t exactly strike me as being top shelf leadership. When you ask for an opinion, there is always a good chance you’ll get one that doesn’t endorse your views. If the solicited opinion is really a ‘on the job’ employment interview, it’s only decent to tell the employee so, so that can guide their thoughts and responses…………at least in my book.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
In this case it would seem to me all this particular soldier reminds Pace of is how to be completely passive regardless of who gets killed or how good a friend or soldier they might have been. The Air Force officer I work with from AMC is useless like this guy. Completely gutless. Wouldn’t make a decision to save his own life for fear that any decision he might make would cause damage to his career. What an ass kisser that guy is. He’ll probably be a General himself one day. Everyone says, ‘we need another Patton.’ Hell, like you’ll get another Patton in today’s military.
December 24th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
My wife has been reading the book, Snakes in Suits. I have met several of these psychopaths at work. One of them went on to become the VP in charge of the ill fated ACS program. I’m not sure he was in charge of the ‘airplane is half big enough for the job’ tactic they almost used successfully to jack the price of that program through the roof, but it would be typical of what he was capable of. This type of boss has become standard in the military industrial complex where we value process over performance. Here’s a review of the book:
January 1st, 2008 at 11:50 am
It figures that a Marine Corps that promotes a dickless General like Pace would court marshal these guys for shooting back.
Wuterich has a pair. Pace is a pussy! That’s why Pace is a General and Wuterich is a Marine.
January 1st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Dfens: It’s going to trial. Are you saying that everyone would be better off if Gen Pace or someone just said ‘no problem’? That is exactly what the critics and anti-military crowd wanted and it would have resulted in more severe restrictions on ROE because of lunatics like Murtha who said that the Marines committed cold-blooded murder and would then have said the total dismissal of everything by the Marines proved it. So far we’ve seen the Haditha charges reduced and dismissed regularly. It’s already nothing, nothing at all, like the initial story indicated. I suspect that we’re going to see the guys still on the block cleared of most if not all the remaining charges. That’s how the system is designed to work. And knock off the rude personal name calling. Calling people ‘lunatics’ or ‘idiots’ is one thing, but you seem to insist upon vulgarity to get your point across. Cut it out.