BLACKFIVE: Mil-links

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Mil-links

Posted By McQ • [August 17, 2012]

Military news you can use or peruse.

A record number of soldiers – 38 – are suspected of killing themselves in July, the Pentagon said Thursday. It marks a startling jump in the suicide epidemic that has been frustrating Army leaders for years.

The total included 26 active-duty soldiers – under the Army’s control 24/7 — also an apparent record, and a 117% jump from June’s count of 12 active-duty suicides.

And sometimes, even if there is a point to be made, humor is inappropriate and tasteless even from the best of them:

It Would Be An Honor To Serve My Country, Return With PTSD, Sit On A Mental Health Care Waitlist, Then Kill Myself

That is a headline from The Onion.

The F-35, despite the best efforts of the critics to derail it, seems to be passing more and more mile stones. A few of them can be found here, here and here.

Green on blue attacks are up in Afghanistan and the Taliban is taking credit:

The leader of the Taliban says his fighters have infiltrated the Afghan police and army and are successfully killing a growing number of U.S.-led coalition forces.

Mullah Mohammad Omar released his message Thursday ahead of a holiday this weekend that ends the holy month of Ramadan. The note was emailed to news organizations.

So far this year, 34 foreign troops have been killed in attacks by Afghan forces or militants disguised in Afghan uniforms. The coalition claims only 10 percent of the attacks can be linked to infiltrators.

Yeah, not sure how the coalition can make that claim, but what is becoming increasingly clear is the most dangerous duty in Afghanistan is being embedded with Afghan national forces.

Meanwhile in Syria:

With the West still refusing to arm Syria's opposition in the bloody fight against the regime, rebels in the flashpoint northern city of Aleppo warn that they could turn to Al-Qaeda for help.

"We don't want Al-Qaeda here, but if nobody else helps us, we will make an alliance with them," said Abu Ammar, a rebel commander in the central Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo, scene of raging battles for almost a month.

"And you can bet if Al-Qaeda comes here, they will brainwash the people," he said. "If Al-Qaeda enters Aleppo, the city will become their base within three months."

I don’t think there’s much doubt that Al-Qaeda is already there and functioning. It is drawn to power vacuums in the Muslim world like moths to flame. And no, I’m not advocating intervention, I’m just pointing out something that should be pretty obvious.

UJ hits the SEAL v. Obama controversy pretty well below. Here’s another take on it from Doug Giles.

The Nidal Hasan trial at Ft. Hood is being delayed because Hasan has a beard now and wants to keep it for “religious reasons”. Yeah, tough nuts. Meanwhile if anyone out there still thinks his was an incident of “workplace violence” vs. domestic terrorism, let me refer you to this terrific MEMRI post which should remove any doubt you have.

The Armed Forces Foundation is heading into its last week of a terrific raffle. Buy a $10 raffle ticket and if you win, you and 5 friends are flown to Chicago, put in a luxury coach and spend the weekend in the infield of the Chicagoland Speedway watching NASCAR racing with unlimited food and drink. And yes, that includes adult beverages. A true Blackfive event if I’ve ever heard of one.

~McQ

Twitter: @McQandO

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