Openbah / Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate

Month: January 2007

  • Army Sgt in Iraq orders mats, receives insult

    Sergeant Hess, a member of the U.S. Army currently serving in Iraq, is tired of sleeping on the “cold ground, which contains sand mites, sand flies and other disease carriers.” So Sergeant Hess tried ordering some mats to sleep on from Discount-Mats.com. He emailed the company asking if they ship to APO addresses. The reply he got was disturbing:

    SGT Hess,

    We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.

    Bargain Suppliers
    Discount-Mats.com

    From the “Why Choose Us” page of Discount-Mats.com’s website (which has been taken down):

    Outstanding Service – As a customer, you’re part of our family. You can expect friendly, courteous, responsive service before and after the sale.

    I think not!

    According to Fox News, the Web-based company is registered to Faisal Khetani, an American Muslim of Pakistani descent.

    My guess is this company will change names and never reopen their phone lines or check their email, but if they do and you’d like to leave them a message…

    contact@discount-mats.com

    414-736-8394
    (9 a.m. – 5 p.m. central time)

    Mailing address:
    Bargain Suppliers
    3259 S.106th Street
    West Allis, WI 53227

  • Public Storage sells Army Specialist’s belongings while deployed in Iraq

    After serving a year in Iraq, Army Reserve Spc. Patrick Rogalin came home and found that everything he had put in a storage locker – essentially everything he owned – had been sold.

    Several payments for the locker had bounced because someone emptied his checking account while he was gone.

    “It’s really insulting, after all I went through over there serving my country, to come back and have to deal with this,” Rogalin said.

    Rogalin, 20, said he put his belongings into a Public Storage unit near St. Louis before shipping out and set up automatic payments with the company. But while he was in Iraq, he said, someone accessed his checking account and cleaned it out.

    After learning of the problem from his bank, Rogalin opened a different account and resumed making payments to Public Storage.

    “When I got back I called Public Storage to find out the status of my account and they told me the contents of my storage container had been auctioned off in June because the bill hadn’t been paid,” he said.

    Continue reading article: GI Returns From Iraq to Find Belongings Sold

  • US Flag and POW/MIA Flag



    Was parked outside a post office in Brighton, MA on a very windy day and saw these flags above my head.

  • Watada’s pre-trial hearing for court martial begins today

    Back in June 1st Lieutenant Watada (Army) publicly refused to deploy to Iraq for the Iraq War, saying that he believed the war to be illegal and that it would make him party to war crimes. His court martial is set to begin in February, but the pre-trial hearing begins today.

    Recently, journalist Kevin Sites attempted to understand Watada’s decision in a phone interview. Below is an except in which Watada discusses the punishment he faces in his court martial:

    SITES: Tell me about the repercussions you face in this court martial.

    WATADA: Well I think with the charges that have been applied to me and referred over to a general court martial, I’m facing six years maximum confinement, dishonorable discharge from the army, and loss of all pay and allowances.

    STES: Are you ready to deal with all those consequences with this decision?

    WATADA: Sure, and I think that’s the decision that I made almost a year ago, in January, when I submitted my original letter of resignation. I knew that possibly some of the things that I stated in that letter, including my own beliefs, that there were repercussions from that. Yet I felt it was a sacrifice, and it was a necessary sacrifice, to make. And I feel the same today.

    I think that there are many supporters out there who feel that I should not be made an example of, that I’m speaking out for what a lot of Americans are increasingly becoming aware of: that the war is illegal and immoral and it must be stopped. And that the military should not make an example or punish me severely for that.

    Transcript from the Hot Zone Team

    I am not one of those supporters. I think that the 1st Lieutenant should take responsibility for what he has done, and accept his punishment.

  • Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Doesn’t Work?

    A Zogby Poll from last month supposedly indicates a shift in military attitudes concerning the longstanding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Some interesting statistics from the poll:

    . . . Of those in combat units, 21% said they know for certain that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian, slightly less than for those in combat support units (25%) and combat service support units (22%). One in five troops (20%) in other units said they know for certain someone is gay or lesbian in their unit. Overall, nearly half (45%) say there are people in their unit they suspect are gay or lesbian, but they don’t know for sure. Slightly more than half (52%) say they have received training on the prevention of anti-gay harassment in the past three years. But 40% say they have not received this type of training, which is mandated by Defense Department policy . . .

    General Shalikashvili (retired, Army) shares his opinions on gays in the military in yesterday’s NY Times:

    . . . I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

    But if America is ready for a military policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, the timing of the change should be carefully considered. As the 110th Congress opens for business, some of its most urgent priorities, like developing a more effective strategy in Iraq, share widespread support that spans political affiliations. Addressing such issues could help heal the divisions that cleave our country. Fighting early in this Congress to lift the ban on openly gay service members is not likely to add to that healing, and it risks alienating people whose support is needed to get this country on the right track . . .